The authorities of Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, are suspending all means of public transport, including the cancellation of outbound trains and flights, starting 10:00 a.m. Thursday to contain the spread of a new coronavirus which caused the recent pneumonia outbreak and claimed 17 lives in three weeks, according to the Pneumonia Epidemic Control Headquarters of Wuhan.
The public transport being shut down include bus, subway and ferry services. There has been no word on inbound trains and flights.
Time for the restoration of public transport services will be announced later.
The headquarters also asked local residents not to leave Wuhan "without special reasons."
This is the first public announcement made by the headquarters, which was formed on Wednesday under the command of Major Zhou Xianwang.
At least 560 cases of novel coronavirus had been reported across the world as of 1:20 a.m. on Thursday, including one in the U.S., one in Japan, four in Thailand and one in South Korea.
