China and other countries affected by a novel coronavirus will jointly attend an emergency meeting convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday night, confirmed China's foreign ministry on Tuesday.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will convene the emergency committee.

Dr. Tedros wrote on Twitter that the emergency meeting will ascertain whether the coronavirus constitutes a public health emergency of international concern and what recommendations should be made to manage the outbreak.

As of Tuesday, four countries – China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand – have reported confirmed cases caused by the novel virus.

"China is willing to deepen international cooperation and the international community should work together to tackle the epidemic and safeguard regional and global health security," said the foreign ministry spokesperson.

This new type of coronavirus, labeled 2019-nCoV, was the seventh of its kind known to human. Its first case emerged in central China's Wuhan City in December 2019.