Britain has declared that the new coronavirus was a serious and imminent threat to public health, a step that gives the government additional powers to fight the spread of the virus.
"The Secretary of State declares that the incidence or transmission of novel coronavirus constitutes a serious and imminent threat to public health," the health ministry said.
"Measures outlined in these regulations are considered as an effective means of delaying or preventing further transmission of the virus," the ministry said.
The ministry designated Arrowe Park Hospital and Kents Hill Park as an "isolation" facility and Wuhan and Hubei province in China as an "infected area".
Four more patients in England have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to eight.
The four people infected are all understood to be contacts of a businessman who was diagnosed in Brighton last week and who contracted the virus at a conference in Singapore.
On his way back to the UK he visited a chalet in a ski region of France, where five other British citizen were subsequently taken ill with the virus.
The Department of Health said the four people newly-diagnosed contracted the virus in France and are being treated at specialist infection centres at St Thomas' and the Royal Free hospitals in London.
The British man who caught coronavirus in Singapore is being treated at the specialist infectious diseases unit at St Thomas'.
The five British nationals being treated in France were diagnosed after they came into contact with the businessman, according to the French health ministry.
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Meanwhile, around 65 more people aboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship moored off Japan have been diagnosed with novel coronavirus, national broadcaster NHK said, bringing the total number of infected to about 135.
Other local media also reported the new cases, but health ministry officials declined to comment.
The Diamond Princess has been in quarantine since arriving off the Japanese coast early last week after the virus was detected in a former passenger who got off the ship last month in Hong Kong.
When the boat arrived off Japan, authorities initially tested nearly 300 people for the virus of the 3,711 on board, gradually evacuating dozens who were infected to local medical facilities.
In recent days, testing has expanded to those with new symptoms or who had close contact with other infected passengers or crew, and several more cases were reported over the weekend.
Those who remain on the ship have been asked to stay inside their cabins and allowed only briefly onto open decks.
They have been asked to wear masks and keep a distance from each other when outside, and given thermometers to regularly monitor their temperatures.
The ship is expected to stay in quarantine until 19 February- 14 days after the isolation period began.
The quarantine has made life on board the ship difficult, particularly for those in windowless interior cabins and a significant number of passengers who require medication for various chronic conditions.
The health ministry said that around 600 people on board urgently needed medication, and around half received supplies over the weekend.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters that discussions were ongoing about how to increase testing capacity and also whether testing would take place after passengers are released from quarantine.
The World Health Organization confirmed in a tweet that newly diagnosed cases on the ship should not extend the length of the quarantine.
"The quarantine period of the #DiamondPrincess will come to an end on 19 February," the WHO said in a tweet.
"The period will be extended beyond the 19 Feb as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases. They need to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case."
There are 26 confirmed cases of the new virus in Japan apart from the infections on board the ship, among them citizens evacuated from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak emerged.
