WUHAN: A day after China rang in the New Lunar Year, public transport in China’s Wuhan was shut down in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus that accelerated following the dismantling of COVID curbs and the movement of urban workers for the Annual holidays.
As per media reports the new virus is called 2019-nCoV– a strain that was not identified in humans previously. Additionally, a special command center is set up in Wuhan in order to decelerate the momentum of the epidemic spreading.
All flights and passenger train services out of Wuhan have been halted from Thursday. Bus, subway, and ferry services are all shut down from 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT), according to sources.
China on Sunday welcomed the Lunar New Year with large family gatherings and crowds that visited temples after a period of three years of grueling restrictions. Working individuals rushed home to reunite with their families without worrying about the hassles of quarantine, potential lockdowns, and suspension of travel.
Restrictions of the hardline ZERO COVID-19 policy were eased in Beijing last month. The famous Tibetan Buddhist site Lama Temple witnessed huge crowds for morning prayers.
According to a top official, almost 90 percent of China’s third most populous province was infected. In the latest report, top health officials have confirmed that nearly 13,000 COVID-related deaths were logged in hospitals in China between January 13 and 19. Earlier, China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had stated that last week on Saturday 681 hospitalized patients had died of respiratory failure caused by a COVID-19 virus infection, and 11,977 had died of other diseases combined with COVID virus infection complications.