Those trapped in China virus lockdown expect lonely holiday

Bai Xue h planned a ro trip through China's lush eastern coast to ring in Lunar New Year, usually a time of lively family reunions and abundant feasts.

n came a new virus, a rapidly-developing outbreak, and shutdown of her city.

Wuhan authorities anunced t long after midnight on Thursday that airport and train stations would be closed, and all public transportation suspended by 10 a.m. Unless y h a special reason, government said, residents should t leave Wuhan, sprawling central Chinese city of 11 million people that's epicenter of an epidemic that has infected nearly 600 people.

“Everything has been canceled,” 27-year-old Bai said by phone. “re's t much we can do.”

Similar measures will take effect from Friday in nearby cities of Huanggang and Ezhou.

While some people shared on social media ir early morning escapes by car, many chose to follow authorities' instructions and stay in Wuhan. By mid-afteron, Bai h heard that highway routes were being closed off one by one.

w, she's more likely to spend holiday alone, holed up in her apartment, only going out to buy necessities and with a surgical mask strapped to her face.

She doesn't plan on meeting up with friends, lest one person infect ors. Because symptoms can take some time to set in, and can feel at first like common cold, it's possible that someone may be ill without kwing it.

disease is a new of coronavirus, a family of viruses that can cause both common cold and more severe illnesses like SARS. It appears that people originally caught it from animals sold at a wholesale market in Wuhan, but experts have since confirmed that it can spre between humans.

In about a month's time, disease has triggered screenings in airports around world, as millions of Chinese travel for country's most important holiday. virus has been detected in individuals in United States, Japan, Thailand and South Korea.

On Thursday, first day of travel ban, many Wuhan residents were resigned to ir imposed isolation. y were prepared to lay low, stock up and wait.

Si Weijiang came to Wuhan from Shanghai this week to visit a relative, against warnings of many around him. He h never expected to be stranded, but he accepted his fate.

“I was alrey planning to voluntarily quarantine myself upon returning to Shanghai," Si said.

In morning, he visited supermarket, where many people were out buying essentials like rice and cooking oils. Instant odles were ar popular choice. But y weren't shopping in large quantities, indicating to Si that y believed — rightly or t — that this would all be over soon.

t every product was easy to come by.

Pharmacies were sold out of surgical masks and rubbing alcohol, and supplies of vitamin C tablets were dwindling. Some said grocers in Wuhan were w charging exorbitant prices.

“ vegetables in supermarkets are so expensive,” lamented Zhu Qixin, owner of a truck company in city. Lotus root, a staple of provincial Hubei cuisine, w costs five times as much as it previously did, Zhu discovered after a trip to store.

epidemic took on tragicomic tones on Douyin, China's equivalent of app TikTok, where users in Wuhan shared videos of deserted streets and masked shoppers, overlaid with pop music. One user who said she was fleeing city at night posted a video of a dark highway, accompanied by a song that crooned: “We all want to go home for New Year.”

Ellen Cheng h a feeling that outbreak would get worse, so she bought an earlier train to her hometown, narrowly missing travel shutdown.

“I felt conflicted about leaving,” Cheng said. “I missed my family, but I also didn't want to infect anyone.”

She ultimately decided it would be hard to stay in Wuhan by herself. Many of her colleagues, also originally from out of town, h alrey departed. If she did end up sick, she would be far from family.

w she's isolated herself at her mor's house in a neighboring province. Out of an abundance of caution, y have resolved t to visit anyone during holiday. And y will wear ir masks everywhere, even inside ir home.