China closes off large city to stop spread of deadly virus

BEIJING (AP) — China closed off a city of more than 11 million people Thursday in an unprecedented effort to try to stop the spread of a deadly new virus that has sickened hundreds and spread to other cities and countries in the Lunar New Year travel rush.

Police, SWAT teams and paramilitary troops guarded Wuhan's train station as last-minute travelers arrived, only those holding tickets for the last trains allowed to enter. At exactly 10 a.m., metal barriers blocked entrances while helpless would-be travelers were turned away, with some complaining they had nowhere to go.

Virtually everyone at the scene was wearing masks, news website The Paper's live broadcast showed. People have been lining up to buy them at pharmacies, which limited sales to one package per customer. Medical workers wore protective suits outside a hospital where some patients with the viral respiratory illness are being treated.

“To my knowledge, trying to contain a city of 11 million people is new to science," Gauden Galea, the World Health Organization's representative in China, told The Associated Press in an interview at the WHO's Beijing office. “It has not been tried before as a public health measure. We cannot at this stage say it will or it will not work."

Local authorities have demanded all residents wear masks in public places and urged government staff to wear them at work and for shopkeepers to post signs for their visitors, Xinhua quoted a government notice as saying.

"Those who disregard the warning will be punished according to relevant laws and regulations," the notice said.

Virtually no one would be allowed to leave Wuhan, an industrial and transportation hub in central China's Hubei province. Train stations, the airport, subways, ferries and long-distance shuttle buses were closed, according to the state Xinhua News...