BANGKOK (REUTERS) - Thailand has seen its first case of human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus inside the country, a health official said on Friday (Jan 31).

The case is a Thai taxi driver, said Mr Tanarak Pipat, deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control.

"The Thai person who got infected does not have the record of travelling to China and it is likely that he was infected by a sick traveller from China," Mr Tanarak said.

Thailand's previous cases have all been either Chinese tourists or Thais who had visited China, where the virus originated.