Hong Kong will deny entry to residents of Hubei province and those who have been to the province in the past 14 days indefinitely starting from Jan 27, the Hong Kong government announced late Sunday night.

Hong Kong residents will be exempted from the new arrangement.

The measure was announced in response to the escalation of the novel coronavirus outbreak, which was first reported in Wuhan, in Central China's Hubei province.

On Saturday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor raised the government's response level to outbreak to "emergency" and revealed a package of measures.

Meanwhile, according to reports from local media, it was reported that two more patients earlier the same day were infected following initial checkups.

If the cases are confirmed, the number of infected patients in the city will reach eight.

As of Sunday, more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus infection have been reported in China, with more than 50 fatalities.