China on Sunday said 17 more people have been infected with the new mysterious coronavirus that has killed two people and placed countries, including India, on alert.

The surge in numbers announced by the Wuhan health commission on Sunday comes a day after a new analysis said more than 1700 could actually be infected with the “novel coronavirus”.

According to the official news agency, Xinhua, among infected patients, “…12 are male and five are female. They are aged between 30 and 79, and three of them were in critical condition”.

“Epidemiological investigations into the 17 new cases are underway and close contacts are being traced, the authority said, adding that Wuhan will continue to expand the search area, identify suspected cases and conduct sampling tests,” the Xinhua report said Sunday.The list includes Thailand and Japan, which have together reported three cases of the disease in people who had come from Wuhan.

A new analysis by Imperial College’s MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis said the Wuhan novel coronavirus, a virus previously unknown, could have infected many more people than the number currently reported.It could well be over 1700, the researchers said.