Corona outbreak: China shuts down 5 cities

Beijing: China on Thursday locked down five cities, including Wuhan, suspending all public transport in an unprecedented move to contain the coronavirus that has infected over 630 people and left 17 others dead, dampening the celebrations of the Lunar New Year.

Meanwhile, a Keralite nurse working in Saudi Arabia has tested positive for the new coronavirus, which has killed 17 people in China, junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan confirmed on Thursday.

"About 100 Indian nurses mostly from Kerala working at Al-Hayat hospital have been tested and none except one nurse was found infected by Corona virus. Affected nurse is being treated at Aseer National Hospital and is recovering well," Muraleedharan tweeeted, adding that he has asked the Indian Consulate to provide all possible support.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), urging External Affairs minister S Jaishankar to take up the matter with the Gulf nation and ensure expert treatment.

On Thursday evening, Chinese officials announced suspension of public transport in five cities — Huanggang, Ezhou, Zhijiang, Qianjiang and Wuhan in Hubei province, official media reported.

Wuhan, the city of 11 million people where the virus is believed to have first emerged, has no trains or planes in or out.

Nationwide, a total of 17 people have died, all of them in and around Wuhan. The victims' average age was 73, with the oldest 89 and the youngest 48. So far 631 cases have been confirmed in 25 provincial-level regions in the country.

The government has sealed Wuhan and Huanggang, a prefecture level city with over 7.4 million people, in an unprecedented effort to curb the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus. The other three cities too have substantial population.

From 10 am on Thursday, all public transportation, including city buses, subways, ferries and long-distance coaches in Wuhan were suspended, and outbound channels at airports and railway stations closed until further notice.

The city officials have asked people in both the cities not to leave. Wuhan is a major transportation hub and home to many universities.

The Wuhan lockdown is a cause of concern for Indian students who still remained there. The city has about 700 Indian students, majority of them studying medicine. However, most of the students have apparently left for home for the holidays.