The leader of a Chinese government team of experts announced Monday that human-to-human transmission of a new coronavirus has been confirmed.

The finding could raise fears that the infection might not require contact with infected animals to occur, and could spread among people more rapidly.

According to the Associated Press, research team leader Zhong Nashan, a respiratory expert, said that two people in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong caught the virus from family members.

Some medical workers also appear to have contracted the virus from patients.

About 300 cases have been identified. There are about 260 cases in Wuhan, according to Chinese officials. Cases in other Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, total around 30.

The first case of an infection with a new coronavirus has been discovered in the U.S. A person traveling from Wuhan, China, to Washington state was diagnosed with pneumonia last week.

So far, the virus appears less dangerous and infectious than SARS, which also started in China and killed about 800 people.

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