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| Wuhan: Virus-hit Chinese city to shut public transport | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Wuhan, a Chinese city of nearly nine million people, is to temporarily shut public transport amid a virus outbreak. | Wuhan, a Chinese city of nearly nine million people, is to temporarily shut public transport amid a virus outbreak. |
| Those living in the city have been advised not to leave, in a week when millions of Chinese are travelling for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. | |
| The airport and train stations will be closed to outgoing passengers. | |
| Bus, subway, ferry, and long-distance transport networks will shut down from 1000 local time on 23 January. | |
| The outbreak has killed 17 people, and there are 440 confirmed cases. | |
| The virus originated in a seafood market that "conducted illegal transactions of wild animals", authorities said. | |
| It has spread from Wuhan to several Chinese provinces, the US, Thailand and South Korea. | |
| Late on Wednesday, Chinese authorities confirmed the number of dead had almost doubled - from nine - in the space of a day. All fatalities so far have been in Hubei, the province around Wuhan. | |
| Officials in Hong Kong also reported the territory's first two cases. | |
| Known as 2019-nCoV, the virus is understood to be a new strain of coronavirus not previously been identified in humans. The Sars virus that killed nearly 800 people globally in the early 2000s was also a coronavirus. | |
| Meanwhile, in Geneva, the World Health Organization's emergency committee is meeting to assess the global risks posed by the virus and decide if it should be declared an international public health emergency - as happened with swine flu and Ebola. | |
| Chinese officials said the country was now at the "most critical stage" of prevention and control. | |
| "Basically, do not go to Wuhan. And those in Wuhan please do not leave the city," said National Health Commission vice-minister Li Bin in one of the first public briefings since the beginning of the outbreak. | |
| Earlier this week, China confirmed that human-to-human transmission of the virus had taken place. | |
| Signs of infection with the new virus include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. | |
| The first US case was confirmed on Tuesday. President Donald Trump said the situation was "totally under control" and that he trusted the information being provided by Chinese authorities. | |
| Analysis: James Gallagher, BBC health and science correspondent | |
| Wuhan is starting to look like a city in quarantine. | |
| Officials had already warned residents not to leave the city and visitors not to come. | |
| Now the reported public transport ban - which includes flights - slams many of the routes in and out of the city shut. | |
| It is a significant attempt to stop the spread of this new virus, which we now know can spread from person to person. | |
| Limiting transport will cut the chance of the virus reaching other cities in China and other countries around the world. | |
| This all comes just as millions of people are travelling across China for the week-long holiday that is Lunar New Year. | |
| If you're struggling for context - imaging shutting down London in the week before Christmas. | |
| The big question left is the roads - and whether any of Wuhan's 8.9 million inhabitants will be able to simply drive away. |