CHINA: 41 MILLION AFFECTED BY TRANSPORT SHUTDOWN IN 13 CITIES

Seafood and Live Animal Market Identified as Centre of 

Deadly Virus Outbreak. China in State of Emergency WHO:

China has added four more cities to a transport ban around the centre of a deadly virus, restricting the movement of some 41 million people in 13 cities as authorities scramble to control the disease. Part of the Great Wall of China is being closed in a bid to control the virus spread.

While the World Health Organization held off on declaring a global emergency, despite confirmed cases in half a dozen other counties, China expanded a lockdown and cancelled some Lunar New Year celebrations to prevent the disease spreading further.

Officials in Xianning, Xiaogan, Enshi and Zhijiang cities - all located in central Hubei province where the virus first emerged - said public transport services including buses and train stations would be closed. 

The cities are the latest in Hubei to impose travel restrictions over the previous 24 hours in a bid to curb the spread of the new coronavirus which has infected more than 800 people.

The virus first emerged from the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, where a seafood nd live animal market has been identified as the centre of the outbreak.

It has killed 26 people so far, has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

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The WHO said China was in a state of emergency, but it stopped short of making a declaration that would have prompted greater international cooperation, including possible trade and travel restrictions.

But Chinese authorities were taking no chances against a virus that has spread nationwide and to several other countries.

The normally bustling city of Wuhan, a major industrial and transport hub in the centre of the country, slid deeper into isolation as China tightened a transport cordon around it and nearby cities.

*A new hospital is being built to treat patients in Wuhan

With hundreds of millions of people travelling across the country this week for the Lunar New Year holiday, the government has halted all travel out of the city, municipal public transport has been suspended, and residents have been ordered not to leave home.

Very few flights were coming into Wuhan, too, further isolating the city from the rest of the world.

The measures have rendered the city of 11 million an eerily ghost town, with streets and shopping centres deserted, and stores shut at a time normally marked by festive gatherings and shoppers out enjoying China's most important festival.

The city's police presence, usually quite prominent in China, was hardly detectable.

The pathogen, known by its technical name 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), has caused alarm throughout the country, with surgical masks selling out at pharmacies and stores in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities.

To discourage nationwide holiday travel, the government said beginning today anyone who bought a ticket for rail, air, long-distance coach, or water transport could receive a refund upon cancellation.

Beijing has cancelled massive gatherings that usually attract throngs at temples during the New Year holiday, while the historic Forbidden City will close from tomorrow.

China May Run Out Of Face-Masks As It Tries To Contain Deadly Virus. Screen Grab Photo:

The respiratory virus emerged from a seafood and animal market in Wuhan in late December. It has spread to several other countries including the United States. Fourteen people were tested for the virus in the UK, with five confirmed negative and nine still awaiting results, Public Health England (PHE) said last night.


Link: It is understood a patient arrived at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast over the weekend showing symptoms that may or may not be associated with the condition. 

There is no suggestion at this stage that the patient has coronavirus and tests being conducted are being treated as precautionary.

The National Health Commission said that of the 830 cases in China so far, 177 are in serious condition. Authorities were also examining 1,072 suspected cases.

"This is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters after two days of talks in Geneva.

He hailed China for taking the preventive measures but added "we hope that they will be both effective and short in their duration."

China has been praised for its response, in contrast to the SARS epidemic when it took months to report the disease and initially denied WHO experts any access.

Health authorities have said most fatalities have been aged between 48 and 89 and already suffered from pre-existing health conditions.

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