Experts in China have urged vigilance with hygiene in order to avoid contracting the novel coronavirus after stressing that it can survive for several days on some surfaces.

The novel coronavirus can be transmitted via droplets but can only be airborne for up to two meters before falling to the ground they said.

"It will not float in the air," said Jiang Rongmeng, a member of a senior-level expert team convened by the National Health Commission to combat the virus.

He told a news conference on Monday that the virus can survive for days in environments where the humidity and temperature are favorable.

Research has found the virus can live for five days if the temperature stands at 20 C with humidity at 40 to 50 percent, said Jiang, who is also a chief physician in infection at Beijing Ditan Hospital.

He warned that chances of contamination were higher if people do not wash their hands after touching objects, as it's possible they could then be infected by rubbing their eyes or scratching their nose.

"We must wash hands properly. I think this is particularly important," he noted.

He added that they had yet to find any cases where infection was shown via fecal-oral transmission.

Currently, nucleic acid of the novel coronavirus is found in the excrement of some infected patients, but not the virus.