Security measures against coronavirus are increasing. Chinese authorities will suspend all trains and planes departing from Wuhan, the city where the deadly new virus appeared, on Thursday, state media said.
The epidemic has already claimed 17 lives in China, where the number of cases exceeded five hundred on Wednesday, mainly in Wuhan, a city of 11 million inhabitants.
The decision, which will take effect at 10 am (3 am in Paris), aims to "effectively contain the pace of the spread of the epidemic" and protect lives, said the command center set up against the virus in Wuhan , according to the public television channel CCTV.
"Without a special reason, city residents must not leave Wuhan," while air and rail links from the city are "temporarily" suspended, the command center added.
The world is trying to limit the spread of coronavirus
Surveillance measures
Likewise, the British and Italian authorities announced measures to monitor passengers from Wuhan on Wednesday. From Thursday, the Italian Ministry of Health has planned the establishment of a "sanitary channel with temperature control via a scanner" at Fiumicino Airport (Rome), connected to the city of Wuhan by three weekly direct flights.
In London, the three weekly direct flights between Wuhan and Heathrow airport have been the subject of "enhanced surveillance" since Wednesday, the British Ministry of Health said, judging the risk run "low" by the people of the United Kingdom.
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In France, all travelers from China, regardless of their route, receive information on what to do in case of temperature. And all the health authorities are on the alert. At airports, messages of precautions intended for travelers going to Wuhan from Paris or on their return from Wuhan are broadcast on planes. The director of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Wednesday not to want to decide immediately if the virus constitutes an international emergency, prolonging by one day the discussions of the emergency committee.
"The decision whether or not to declare a public health emergency of international concern is a decision that I take very seriously and that I am only prepared to take with due regard to the available evidence," the director told the press. WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in Geneva where the emergency committee was meeting.