The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Britain has doubled, as four more people have tested positive.

The UK's Department of Health said they were all infected after coming into contact with the country's third confirmed coronavirus patient in a French ski resort.

The four new patients have been transferred to infectious disease units in London.

French authorities said on Sunday five British citizens - including a five-year-old child - who were staying in the same chalet as the third patient to be confirmed in the UK had been diagnosed with the disease.

It comes after the UK government declared the spread of virus is a "serious and imminent threat" to the public in Britain.

That is according to the country's Health Minister Matt Hancock.

The announcement gives the UK government additional powers to fight the spread of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China.

Across Europe, there are 14 cases in Germany, 11 in France, three cases in Italy, and one each in Belgium, Finland, Spain and Sweden.

There are no confirmed cases of the virus in Ireland.

A UK Department of Health statement said: "The Secretary of State has made regulations to ensure that the public are protected as far as possible from the transmission of the virus.

"The Secretary of State declares that the incidence or transmission of novel coronavirus constitutes a serious and imminent threat to public health, and the measures outlined in these regulations are considered as an effective means of delaying or preventing further transmission of the virus."

Mr Hancock has also designated two hospitals in England, where people evacuated from Wuhan have been transferred to, as "isolation" facilities.

Wuhan and Hubei province have also been declared an "infected area" by the UK.

China announced on Monday 27 foreigners have been infected inside the country, including two deaths - as the total number of deaths in China reached 910.

Sunday's death toll of 97 in China was the largest in a single day since the outbreak was detected in mid-December, denting optimism the death control measures, including the isolation of major cities, might be effectively fighting the outbreak.

Main image: British Health Secretary Matt Hancock is seen outside a cabinet meeting in London | Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images