China locks down some 20 million people at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak in a gigantic effort called 'new to science' by health experts
Beijing locks down some 20 million people in several cities to contain the disease, preventing planes and trains from leaving in an unprecedented move that health experts say is"new to science."
Trains and planes out of Wuhan were indefinitely suspended and tollways on roads out the city were closed, leading to fear and panic for those who were trapped. And highways were closed in neighbouring Xiantao, while public transport will be suspended from midnight in nearby Chibi. The two cities have a combined population of around two million people.
Like SARS , China's new disease is contagious between humans and is part of the same family of coronaviruses. A child wears a mask at the Hong Kong West Kowloon High Speed Train Station in Hong Kong on January 23, 2020. - The pathogen is entirely new - a never-before-seen strain of coronavirus. - It is milder than SARS. Which makes it more worrying as it allows infected people to travel far before they become symptomatic.Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Wednesday the virus likely came from "wild animals at a seafood market" in Wuhan.
Normally bustling streets, shopping malls, restaurants and other public spaces in Wuhan were eerily quiet. The country saw its first case of SARS in November 2002, but Beijing waited until February to officially acknowledge the disease, which it downplayed then as "effectively controlled". In contrast, the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyes, on Wednesday hailed the "very, very strong measures" taken by China this time around.Tedros spoke after the global body held a meeting on Wednesday to decide whether to classify the outbreak as a global health emergency. International experts were split and a new meeting will be held on Thursday.
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