The Chinese government on Thursday put on lockdown two cities - Wuhan and Huanggang - in an effort to stop the spread of novel coronavirus that has killed 17 people and has infected nearly 600.

Both cities fall under Central China's Hubei province with Wuhan being the ground zero of 2019-nCoV.

The train station in Huanggang, a city of 7.5 million people, will be suspended until further notice from midnight. All vehicles will be checked, and bars and cinemas closed, a Reuters report quoted city authorities as saying.

Earlier, Wuhan - a city of 11 million people - became the first Chinese city to be put on lockdown. Ezhou, a nearby city of over one million, will also close from tonight, reports said.

The steps to put the most affected cities have been taken amid fears that the spread of the virus will increase as a large number of people travel home during week-long holidays for the Lunar New Year which begins on Saturday.

All outbound flights from Wuhan have been suspended with several regional and international airlines announcing a temporary suspension of flights to and from the city believed to be the epicentre of the outbreak.

2019-nCoV, a strain of coronavirus, has led to an outbreak of viral pneumonia. In an update on Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said sixteen health care workers had also been infected.

By Wednesday, there were more than 440 confirmed cases, and 17 reported deaths, the WHO said as it meets again on Thursday to discuss whether novel coronavirus is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

The Chinese city of Macau reportedly confirmed its first case on Wednesday, and there have been cases in Thailand, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the US.

Several countries have put in place measures to screen fliers coming in from China.

In India, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has directed thermal screening of passengers arriving from China including Hong Kong at the airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin.