The World Health Organisation on Tuesday said only one per cent of new coronavirus cases registered in China were without symptoms, which appears to bely fears the virus spreads via people who appear healthy.

"Evidence from China is that only one percent of reported cases do not have symptoms, and most of those cases develop symptoms within two days," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

The organisation warned that protective gear such as masks and goggles used by health workers fighting the new Coronavirus were running out, warning against "hoarding and misuse."

"We are concerned that countries' abilities to respond are being compromised by the severe and increasing disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment ... caused by rising demand, hoarding and misuse," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva, warning that "supplies are rapidly depleting.