Gold prices are trading bullish early on Thursday as coronavirus continues to haunt markets after the epicenter of the epidemic in China, the Hubei province, reported a sudden increase in the number of infected cases as well as death toll. At the time of writing, GOLD is trading at a little above $1,573.

Meanwhile health experts around the world have already cautioned that the epidemic could worsen significantly before it can be contained and managed. Chinese officials tried to downplay the spike in the number of cases as they remarked that this was driven by a change in the methodology for identifying and measuring the number of infected cases.

The gains in gold, however, remain capped over optimistic statements by US officials. On Wednesday the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed confidence that the coronavirus outbreak’s economic impact will not last beyond this year. His comments received additional support from the Fed is chairman Jerome Powell who believes that the economic outlook of the US remains strong, but could experience a slight drag on account of the virus.