The United States and Japan flew citizens out of the Chinese city at the epicentre of a new virus outbreak on Wednesday, as the death toll rose sharply to 132 and the first case appeared in the Middle East.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is confident in China's ability to contain the coronavirus, but concern is mounting as health authorities reported the number of confirmed cases had jumped by 1,459 to 5,974.

President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China was sure of defeating a "devil" coronavirus, but international alarm was rising as the outbreak spread across the world.