The World Health Organisation says a new system is needed for fighting virus outbreaks, warning the world is "dangerously unprepared for a global pandemic."
It comes as China's death toll from the coronavirus passes 560, exceeding the 349 mainland fatalities from the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s.
New fatalities from the coronavirus are been reported in China's Hubei province every day.
The death toll mounts amid deepening global concern about the outbreak.
Since emerging out of Wuhan late last year, the new virus has infected more than 28,000 people across China and has spread to more than 30 countries.
As authorities struggle to contain the virus, World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has delivered a sobering warning.
Dr Ghebreyesus says last week's decision to declare the outbreak a public health emergency was prompted by signs of human-to-human transmission outside China, and fears over what might happen if the virus spread in a country with a weaker health system.
Referring to the Ebola outbreak which continues to ravage areas of West Africa, Mr Ghebreyesus stressed the current model of dealing with a global epidemic is "dangerously short-sighted“.
Many countries are continuing to put tough measures in place to combat the spread of the virus.
The United States, Australia, New Zealand and Israel have banned foreign nationals from visiting if they have been in China recently, and have warned their own citizens against travelling there.
Mongolia, Russia and Nepal have closed their land borders.
