France develops coronavirus test as China death toll jumps to 170

A fifth case of the Wuhan coronavirus has been confirmed in France, where scientists have developed their own test to diagnose the respiratory illness.

This comes as the death toll jumps to 170, with all of China's 31 mainland provinces now affected – 7,813 people in total.

The World Health Organisation will hold an urgent meeting on Thursday to decide whether the outbreak should be declared a global health emergency.

In Paris the daughter of an infected Chinese tourist was hospitalised after being diagnosed with coronavirus.

France's National Reference Center for respiratory infection viruses, which reports to the Pasteur Institute, has developed a locally made test to diagnose cases.

Because Chinese researchers quickly shared the genetic sequence of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, teams around the world have been able to develop specific diagnostic tests.

Meanwhile foreign countries have stepped up measures to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, the locked-down city where the virus was first detected.