City's extraordinary move amid deadly virus outbreak
The Chinese epicentre of coronavirus is to shut down all of its public transport as the virus threatens to rapidly spread across the nation and abroad.
Seventeen people have now been confirmed dead with 440 cases confirmed.
Wuhan, which is home to nine million people, will close all its public transport and authorities have urged people not to leave the city, state media reported on Thursday.
The airport and train stations will be closed to outgoing passengers while bus, subway, ferry, and long-distance transport networks will shut down at 10am (local time).
The virus, which causes pneumonia-like symptoms, was discovered in the city, the capital of Hubei, in late December.
The decision comes ahead of Chinese New Year where millions travel across the country to return home for celebrations.
Incidents of the disease have also been reported in Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the US.
Queensland Health confirmed on Wednesday a Brisbane man who was showing symptoms of the virus has not been infected.
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Several countries increased border health checks to guard against the disease's spread, including Australia, the US, the UK and Russia.
There are also two confirmed cases in China’s special administrative region Hong Kong.
Nation closes borders as virus spreads
North Korea has temporarily closed its border to all foreign tourists in response to the outbreak, according to a travel agency that operates tours to the country.
Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, said the death rate of the virus was similar to the Spanish flu in 1918.
The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 is widely regarded as “the deadliest in history”, and is believed to have infected around 500 million people worldwide, killing between 20 and 50 million.
China's Disease Control and Prevention Centre director Gao Fu said the virus was believed to have originated at a market in Wuhan, from where it mutated and became transmissible from person to person.
"From what we know, the source was the wild animals sold at the seafood market," Mr Gao told journalists on Wednesday.
"The virus of this wild animal is gradually mutating."
With AAP
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