The death toll from a new coronavirus in China rose sharply to 132 on Wednesday with nearly 1,500 new cases, heaping pressure on Beijing to control the disease as U.S. officials said the White House was weighing whether to suspend all flights to the country.

A chartered plane carrying 206 Japanese nationals evacuated from Wuhan, the epicenter of China's coronavirus outbreak, arrived at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Wednesday, as the death toll from the new strain rose to 132.

A team of scientists in Australia said on Wednesday they have successfully developed a lab-grown version of coronavirus, the first to be recreated outside of China, in a breakthrough that could help combat the global spread of the illness.

The United States warned against travel to China on Monday and Canada issued a more narrow travel warning as the death toll from the spreading coronavirus passed 100, with tens of millions stranded during the biggest holiday of the year and global markets rattled.

President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China was sure of defeating a "devil" coronavirus that has killed 106 people, but international alarm was rising as the outbreak spread across the world.

A drug store in Beijing will be fined 3 million yuan ($434,530) for hiking the price of face masks by almost six times the online price amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Beijing municipal market regulator said on Wednesday.

Australia will help some citizens leave Hubei province in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, and quarantine them on Christmas Island, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday following a briefing by the Chinese government.

Malaysia's health ministry said on Wednesday three more people had been infected with the new coronavirus, taking the total to seven, all of whom are Chinese citizens.

A major earthquake struck south of Cuba on Tuesday, sending shockwaves as far as Miami and sparking panic in the Cayman Islands where it ripped open sinkholes, but did not do serious damage to people or property, initial reports said.

The White House on Tuesday opted not to suspend flights from China to the United States as it discussed ways to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.