The city at the centre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak has been placed under an unprecedented lockdown in an attempt to quarantine a population of more than 11 million. Footage from Wuhan, which is where the outbreak is believed to have originated, showed police cars blocking roads out of Wuhan as well as chaotic scenes at Chinese hospitals. Earlier today, Chinese authorities banned all transport links leaving the city, which suspended buses, the subway system, ferries as well as the airport and train stations.
The Chinese Government unveiled the extraordinary new countermeasures, which took effect from 10am local time today.
The ban has sparked panic in a week when hundreds of millions of Chinese are travelling for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, raising the risk of more transmissions.
The new Sars-like coronavirus, which first emerged at the end of December, has killed at least 17 people and infected more than 570.
The respiratory illness has spread to other parts of China, as well as Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, South Korea and the United States.
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Inside the city, special police forces were seen blocking the entrances to railway stations.
Residents and all government workers are now required to wear face masks while in public spaces, amid reports that pharmacies had sold out of face masks.
Experts from the World Health Organisation will meet later today to decide whether to declare an international public health emergency over the coronavirus crisis.
Scientists believe the virus initially jumped from an animal to a human and is now transmissible from one person to another, amid fears it could mutate further.
There are fears that the world could see a repeat of the SARS epidemic, which killed more than 800 people worldwide between 2002 and 2003.
Larry Hu, an economist at Macquarie Capital, said that the “the worst has yet to come, as the number of new infections is still on the rise”.
Last week, UK experts warn that as many as 4,000 people may actually have the virus – twice as many as first thought.
Professor Neil Ferguson, director of the Medical Research Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, said the estimated number of people infected with coronavirus in Wuhan could be as high as 9,700.
He also refused to rule out the possibility that the virus had already reached the UK.