NATIONAL

* Five people have the virus after returning from China's Hubei province, where coronavirus first surfaced in December. All are being treated in hospital and in a stable condition.

* More than 600 Australian citizens in Wuhan have registered for advice or assistance.

* Evacuation, pending agreement from China, will be on a "last in, first out" basis.

* Evacuees will be flown to a quarantine area on Christmas Island to receive treatment by an AUSMAT team of doctors, nurses and paramedics.

* Australian foreign affairs officials are being sent to Wuhan to help with the evacuation.

* At this stage, health authorities do not believe people can pass on coronavirus unless they are showing symptoms, but the virus does have a relatively long incubation period of two weeks.

SCHOOLS

* Federal advice to school students who have returned to Australia from China is that if they are healthy, it is reasonable for them to attend school. If they have been in contact with somebody with coronavirus, they should not attend school for up to 14 days.

* But some Australian private schools have told students who have recently visited China to stay at home for a fortnight. Brisbane's Stuartholme School for girls will keep 10 of its boarders in quarantine for two weeks after they arrived from China this week.

NSW

* Four confirmed cases are being treated at Westmead Hospital: a 21-year-old University of NSW student who was diagnosed after flying back from the virus epicentre in Wuhan, and three men aged 35, 43 and 53.

* Six potential cases are being assessed.

VICTORIA

* One confirmed case, a man in his 50s, is being treated at Monash Medical Centre while four of his family are under home isolation.

* Thirteen people have been tested, but authorities do not believe they are likely to have the virus.

* 42 Victorians have tested negative.

SA

* Six people tested, awaiting results.

* One person tested and cleared.

WA

* Four people tested and cleared.

QUEENSLAND:

* Four people tested negative.

TASMANIA:

* A women in her 20s who recently travelled to China is being tested for coronavirus in Launceston after becoming unwell.

* A man was discharged from hospital on Sunday after testing negative.

THE WORLD:

* Some 132 people have died from the virus in China.

* The number of confirmed cases in China is 5974.

* In Thailand, which the worst-affected country outside of China, the death toll is currently 14.

* The infection has also spread to most of Australia's regional neighbours including Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia.

* Only 20 per cent have a "severe" version of the disease.

TRAVEL WARNINGS:

* The Australian government has told its citizens to reconsider travel to China and to avoid Hubei province where the virus first appeared in December.

* There are no travel warnings yet for other destinations in the Asian region.

MAJOR CONCERNS

* Global health authorities are on alert for cases of human-to-human transmission of the virus outside China, which could speed up infection rates.

* So far this has occurred in Germany, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam.

* Higher rates of human-to-human transmission is a reflection of the adaptability of the virus, which is believed to have initially been transmitted to humans by animals.

(Sources: China's National Health Commission, Australian Chief Medical Officer and state chief health officers)

Australian Associated Press