Wuhan: Virus-hit Chinese city to shut public transport

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Media captionThe BBC’s online health editor talks us through what we know about the virus

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 told not to leave, and the airport and train stations will be closed to outgoing passengers.

Bus, subway, ferry, and long-distance transport networks will be suspended 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.

Known as 2019-nCoV, the virus is understood to be a new strain of coronavirus not previously been identified in humans.

source: bbc.com