Chinese Cities Affected by Coronavirus Under Lockdown; New Hospitals for the Infected Already in the Works

Ten Chinese cities were put under lockdown for coronavirus with a total of about 33 million people. Transportation services in Wuhan, the root of the virus, were shut down on Jan. 23 and people were asked to not leave the city.

Coronavirus has infected hundreds of people and can be deadly. It comes from the family that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

Authorities in the gambling center of Macau are weighing closures of its casinos, following an unprecedented experiment to try to contain a fast-spreading virus that has killed 26 people and has infected more than 800.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declined to declare the outbreak a global public health emergency, citing a limited number of cases abroad and efforts underway to bring it under control.

The panel from WHO decided against the emergency declaration in part because the rate of the virus' spread between humans remains unknown.

Authorities in Huanggang sought not to allow trains and buses to operate from the urban center. It would shut its public transportation system in the lockdown zone, effective midnight Friday local time. Ezhou would implement similar restrictions, bringing the total number of cities with travel restrictions to three.

Restrictive measures were implemented across the Hubei province to attempt to control the spread of the new virus.

Wuhan is Hubei's capital of 11 million people where the virus first emerged. All buses, subway, and ferry services have been suspended and all outbound planes and trains canceled in Wuhan.

The enacted lockdown of the cities was an unprecedented effort to contain the outbreak of the deadly new virus that has made hundreds of people ill and has spread to other countries during the busy lunar new year travel period.

Also, travel restrictions were implemented in the smaller cities of Chibi and Zhijiang.

Cinemas, internet cafes and other entertainment venues would all stop operating and residents were advised not to leave the city.

The enacted restrictions come on the eve of Lunar New Year when millions of people travel home.

The virus, which causes flu-like symptoms, is believed to have moved into the human population from an infected animal at a market in Wuhan.

Chinese health officials and the World Health Organization said this week that the virus has been transmitted person-to-person.

According to a public health expert, China's bid to contain the deadly new coronavirus by placing cities of millions under quarantine is an unprecedented undertaking, but it is unlikely to stop the disease spreading.

Guan Yi, an expert on viruses at Hong Kong University, said that we have passed the golden period of control and prevention.

In Wuhan, where most cases have occurred, the race to build a new 1,000-bed hospital in just six days began last Thursday.

The hospital will be similar to the hospitals established in Beijing in 2003 when the city faced a SARS outbreak that killed almost 800 people and reached nearly 30 countries.

However, Ian Mackay, a virologist at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, worries that the authorities might have created a large cell-culture dish in which many people will share the infection and create a lot more cases all trap in Wuhan.