CORONAVIRUS | An international business gathering at a plush Singapore hotel has been linked to coronavirus cases that have spread across the region, in a worrying sign of secondary transmissions from an epidemic that originated in China.

Malaysia on Tuesday said its first citizen to be infected with the virus - a 41-year-old man - had attended a meeting in Singapore in mid-January that had included several international delegations, some from China.

A 38-year-old S Korean who came into contact with the Malaysian when he travelled to Singapore for a business conference has also been infected, the Korea Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Wednesday.

The S Korean man had a meal with the Malaysian man, as well as several other S Koreans during the conference, S Korea's Joongang Ilbo newspaper reported.

Singapore's Health Ministry said on Tuesday that the meeting involving the Malaysian took place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, adding the city-state was working to identify individuals in close contact with the cases.

Singapore's Health Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for additional comment on the S Korean case on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Singapore could not be immediately reached for comment.

Singapore - one of the worst-hit countries outside China in the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) - has reported 24 cases of coronavirus, including some local transmission cases.

The death toll from the epidemic - believed to have surfaced late last year in a market selling illegal wildlife at the central Chinese city of Wuhan - passed 490 on Wednesday. - Reuters