Health officials in China are confirming 139 new infections of that baffling new coronavirus that first popped up in Wuhan city, and raising the death toll to three lives lost.

The new cases are being treated in the cities of Wuhan, Beijing, and Shenzhen; the patients in the latter two cities had traveled to Wuhan and brought it home, as travelers had previously done in Tokyo, Thailand, and Hong Kong.  Another five patients in Zhejiang province have come down with respiratory illness and were put into quarantine while doctors determine if it's the same virus.

Chinese officials are now concerned with the Lunar New Year holiday, when millions will travel throughout the country.  Many of them will pass through Wuhan, a bustling city with more than 11 million residents.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) says the virus "most likely" jumped from animals to humans.  Most of the original cases were associated with a meat and seafood market that has since been shut down and disinfected numerous times.  WHO admits there have been "some limited human-to-human transmission occurring between close contacts".