Australia has joined several Pacific nations in urging their citizens to reconsider travel to China. It comes as the number of people infected with coronavirus rises above 4000 and the death toll surpasses 100.

Meanwhile, Papua New Guinea is banning travellers from Asian countries, and one provincial leader has gone a step further, announcing he will stop all Chinese people from entering his province.

There are no confirmed cases of the deadly virus in PNG, but the health department has conceded the country will struggle to cope if there is a local outbreak.

PNG is among several Pacific governments that have announced new measures in the past 24 hours.

Palau has said it is temporarily suspending flights from China, Macau and Hong Kong for the entire month of February, and is also restricting its government workers from travelling to those destinations.

Vanuatu media is reporting its government is taking the same measures, while in the Federated States of Micronesia, the President David Panuelo said in a statement he would be meeting today with senior officials to discuss their response and he has suggested a "ban on travellers from China, are the most proactive options available to us".

PNG announced its own ban late yesterday.

The Immigration Minister Westly Nukundj issued a public notice, saying that all air and sea ports will turn away travellers from "Asian ports" because of the spread of the coronavirus.

The notice does not specify which countries are included in the ban or how it will be enforced.

It also says citizens and residents returning to PNG from "any Asian countries" must go through a two week "quarantine assessment period", and 20 days of monitoring "before entry is determined".

PNG had already introduced additional screening for passengers from mainland China but there were concerns they were not being properly implemented.

Pacific Beat has approached PNG's National Airports Corporation to confirm what specific screening measures have been put in place at Port Moresby's international airport but there has been no response so far.

The Immigration Minister also announced they would temporarily close the remote land border at Wutung between PNG and Indonesia

Ray Tanji is a community leader at Wutung and he's told the ABC they're worried.

"My people at the border and very very scared. We are at the gateway," he said.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the East Sepik Governor Allan Bird announced that he would ban all Chinese people from his province until the situation calms down.

He told Pacific Beat that he believes he has the power to implement the ban, and denies it is racially motivated.

"We are an absolute sitting duck...Any time there is a threat to life for people in my province, I have the power to make emergency decisions. This is one of those times."