China coronavirus: Wuhan in lockdown as Beijing tries to contain deadly outbreak

• All public transport closed down in city of Wuhan, in central China, to try to limit spread of infection as number of confirmed cases nears 600
• Wuhan is described as a ‘ghost town’, with malls and restaurants empty

All public transport in and out of the Chinese city of Wuhan, including trains, buses and ferries, stopped at 10am on Thursday as the central government imposed a quarantine to try to contain the spread of a coronavirus that has killed 17 people and infected hundreds more.

Local residents had rushed to railway stations and the airport after the announcement of the lockdown on Wednesday night. The government told residents not to leave the city without "special reasons".

It came as the number of people confirmed to be infected on the mainland reached 571, with 17 deaths, as of midnight on Wednesday, according to China's National Health Commission. The southern Guangdong province, bordering Hong Kong, had reported six new infections, taking its confirmed total to 32, according to People's Daily.

Road checks

Medical personnel were stationed at toll gates and checkpoints on major highways to perform checks on people leaving the city.

A resident surnamed Ding who was driving out of Wuhan said the outward lanes were jammed, with very few vehicles heading into the city.

"Many want to leave," he said. "There are medics screening each car, checking the temperature of all passengers. People are allowed to leave, but the traffic is moving slowly because of the screenings."

Panic buying

A Wuhan resident named Alex Wang said many people had rushed to stock up on supplies.

"A piece of cabbage now costs 35 yuan (US$5), several times more than before the crisis," he said. "Stocks of some supermarkets with online delivery services are empty. The shopping malls, main roads and restaurants that are usually busiest are now so empty.

"It's like a ghost town. The roads are also empty, even during peak traffic hours."

Some residents had made early arrangements to leave the city because civil servants had heard about a possible lockdown a couple of days earlier, according to Wang.

"A few of my relatives are civil servants and they knew of the lockdown days ahead of its official announcement, so my cousins left the city on Monday to avoid transport chaos," he said.

Closed for business

David Wilmots, owner of the Brussels & Atomium Beer Pub in Wuhan, said he and his wife had flown from Wuhan to Vietnam on Wednesday morning on a pre-arranged trip, going through "high controls" and temperature checks at the airport and when boarding the aircraft. Checks at Guangzhou, where they transferred, were less strict, and none were in place when they reached Vietnam, he said.

"The government told us that nobody is allowed to go to any public place without masks, which I think is very good and necessary," he said. "People are getting into panic mode."

Wilmots was in the city during the 2002-03 Sars outbreak, when people were stopped from leaving their housing compounds. "We are not that far yet," he said.

"I'm scared for my staff, because I've been in business for 15 years and we have never, ever closed like this " this is the first time we've ever closed for two days."

A 24-year-old Wuhan resident surnamed Huang said the hotel he worked at in the city was no longer accepting customers. "Our hotel is only handling people checking out, no longer checking in," he said. "It is very serious " you need to wear a mask to go out and people are now saying we should also wear goggles."

Mixed messages?

Weibo user SUK-CC, a resident of the nearby city of Macheng in Hubei province, wrote that "nearly half the people in this city have come from Wuhan, yet local officials are not publicising this or asking everyone to take health and safety precautions". She said Macheng was 40 minutes away from Wuhan by high-speed rail.

"The end destination of my train today is Wuhan, and lots of people who need to change trains at Wuhan don't think they will be able to find another train out since the city is in lockdown," wrote one Weibo user. "Everyone wants to go home and be with their families to spend the Lunar New Year together."

"My train just stopped for five minutes at Wuhan station and a group of people next to me all got on from there. I'm shaking from nervousness," another wrote.

More to come …

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