GUANGZHOU - South China's Guangdong province reported 272 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by Wednesday noon, including two from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), one from Pakistan and two from Australia.

One of the Hong Kong residents who contracted the virus works in Wuhan, while the other had recently traveled to Hubei province for sightseeing

One Hong Kong resident, who works in Wuhan, came to Foshan on Jan 22 and went to see a doctor two days later. The other Hong Kong resident, who recently traveled to Hubei province for sightseeing, went to hospital after feeling unwell in Zhanjiang on Jan 26 and was confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus infection on Wednesday.

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The Pakistani patient is a student studying at a Wuhan university who went to Shenzhen on Jan 21 and Guangzhou on Jan 24. The student went to hospital after showing symptoms on Jan 26, said Chen Zhusheng, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission, at a press briefing. 

As for the two from Australia, they had traveled to Wuhan for sightseeing.

Chen said the five are in a stable station.

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He noted that all confirmed cases in Guangdong will be given equal treatment.

On Tuesday, the foreign affairs office of the Guangzhou municipal government released a coronavirus prevention guidance in four languages of English, Japanese, Korean and French.