The coronavirus has been declared a "serious and imminent threat" to the public by health secretary Matt Hancock.
The Secretary of State made the comment as he announced new regulations to delay or prevent further transmission of the virus.
The regulations give the Government more powers to fight the spread of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China.
Mr Hancock has designated Arrowe Park Hospital, Wirral, and Kents Hill Park, a conference centre and hotel in Milton Keynes, where Britons evacuated from Wuhan have been transferred to, as "isolation" facilities.
The Department of Health said: "In light of the recent public health emergency from the Coronavirus originating from Wuhan, Secretary of State has made regulations to ensure that the public are protected as far as possible from the transmission of the virus.
"In accordance with Regulation 3, the Secretary of State declares that the incidence or transmission of novel Coronavirus constitutes a serious and imminent threat to public health, and the measures outlined in these regulations are considered as an effective means of delaying or preventing further transmission of the virus.
"In accordance with Regulation 2, the Secretary of State designates Arrowe Park Hospital and Kents Hill Park as an 'isolation' facility and Wuhan and Hubei province as an 'infected area'."
There are now four confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.
On Sunday, around 200 British and foreign nationals evacuated from Wuhan on the UK's final rescue flight arrived at RAF Brize Norton.
There have been more than 37,000 cases of the virus globally, mostly in China, where it originated.
The death toll for coronavirus has now overtaken that of the Sars epidemic in 2003, according to health officials in China, reaching 813. In 2003, 774 people were killed by Sars.
