China has the confidence and capability to control and win the fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic, the National Health Commission said on Friday.

The commission's response came after the World Health Organization said on Thursday that the outbreak has become a Public Health Emergency of International Concern after an emergency committee reconvened in Geneva, Switzerland.

However, the UN health body stressed that it does not recommend limiting trade and travel.

The commission said the Chinese government attaches great importance to the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus epidemic and has taken the strictest prevention and containment measures.

"We hope the international community can understand and support China's work in preventing and containing the epidemic and work with China to safeguard regional and international public health," the commission said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the declaration was not a vote of no confidence in China.

It is necessary because human-to-human infections have been confirmed in other countries, he said.

"The speed with which China detected the outbreak, isolated the virus, sequenced the genome and shared it with the WHO and the world are very impressive and beyond words," he said.

"The Chinese government is to be congratulated for the extraordinary measures it has taken to control the outbreak, despite the severe social and economic impact those measures are having on the Chinese people."