A high-level Chinese health official has confirmed that a new coronavirus can be transmitted between people.

Zhong Nanshan, a renowned respiratory expert and head of China's National Health Commission task force, made the revelation Monday.

Zhong said that two people in Guangdong Province caught the disease from family members who visited Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the viral pneumonia appears to have originated. 

Appearing on China's state broadcaster CCTV, Zhong, who discovered the SARS coronavirus in 2003, also said 14 medical workers were infected by the virus from one patient.

It's the first time infection of medical workers has been reported. 

Zhong said that the new coronavirus is less contagious than SARS, but called for caution against possible people-to-people transmission.