Beijing has reported two new cases of pneumonia caused by a new-type coronavirus.
The announcement came one day after Guangdong Province reported the first case of the disease in that province.
All three of the patients traveled to Wuhan before falling ill, that city has seen nearly 200 people infected by the disease so far.
Three of the patients in Wuhan have died while 25 others have been discharged from hospital.
Li Gang is the director of Wuhan Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
He says the disease is still preventable and controllable.
"This new coronavirus pneumonia doesn't have strong infectivity. We cannot rule out the possibility of a human-to-human transmission. But the chance of continuation of such spread is low."
The National Health Commission says the source of the virus remains unclear, but measures will be taken to identify it.
Work will also be carried out to prevent the spread of the virus, detect and treat infections in time, and strengthen the monitoring of its mutation.
At least three people have been injured after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake took place in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
17-thousand households have been left without power.
Over 110 maintenance personnel have been dispatched to restore electricity.
The quake jolted Jiashi County in Kashgar Prefecture.
It was followed by at least eight aftershocks.
China has completed an important test of the rocket engine that will be used in its first Mars mission.
The ground test of the high thrust hydrogen oxygen engine lasted 100 seconds on Sunday.
Experts say that the data collected during the process are enough to ensure the engine works smoothly during the real launch.
The engine will soon be installed on the latest version of the Long March-5 rocket, the largest carrier rocket of the country.
China's first mission to Mars is scheduled for later this year.
China has released an ambitious plan to limit the production and use of certain plastic products in the next five years to contain pollution.
The production and sales of single-use foam plastic tableware and plastic swabs will be banned by the end of this year.
For daily chemicals containing plastic micro beads, production will be banned this year while sales will stop by 2022.
Meantime, a complete plastics management system is expected by 2025.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says countries with interests in Libya's conflict have agreed to respect the arms embargo in the North African country.
She made the remarks when hosting the Libya Conference in Berlin.
"We have had very intensive and serious negotiations here in Berlin this afternoon and in doing so we have contributed to a new political approach, a new political impulse, to generate hope for the people and hope for peace in the Libyan conflict."
The conference was attended by representatives from 11 countries outside Libya as well as international organizations including the UN, the European Union and the African Union.
Merkel says all participants in the conference agreed that a political solution is needed instead of military intervention.
She says the participants agreed to provide no further military support to the warring parties in Libya.
Iran is warning Europeans that Tehran may reconsider its cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani made the remarks at the opening session of the parliament.
"I announce that, if Europe, for any reason, shows unfair behavior in using Chapter 37 of the nuclear agreement, we will make the decision about cooperation with the (International Atomic Energy) Agency. The bill is ready at the parliament."
Britain, France and Germany have triggered a dispute system to try and bring Iran back into compliance with unraveling the 2015 nuclear agreement.
The deal has been on the verge of collapse since US president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal.
Iran has moved away from the deal in response, saying it now has no limits for nuclear enrichment.
The remains of 11 Ukrainians who died in a plane crash near Tehran have arrived in Kyiv.
A farewell ceremony for the victims was held with officials including Ukraine's President and Prime Minister attending.
Iran has admitted responsibility for accidentally shooting down the Ukraine International Airlines plane shortly after it took off from Tehran.
The plane crash killed all 176 people on board.
Iran is trying to decode the plane's black box before planning to send it to a second country.