Guards have blocked routes out of China's Wuhan as part of efforts to seal the city and bottle up a new coronavirus as residents scrambled for supplies on Thursday, clearing out supermarket shelves and queuing up for petrol.
The virus first appeared in the central city of 11 million people last month and is suspected to have jumped to people from an animal in a market where animals were sold illegally.
It has gone on to kill 17 people and infected nearly 600, most in China but cases have been detected as far away as the United States.
The city government said it was suspending all buses, trains, subways, ferries and other long-distance transport as of 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) in an effort to keep the virus from spreading.
Flights out of the city, the capital of Hubei province and a major transport hub, were also being suspended, it said.
The transport lock-down comes just before the Lunar New Year when hundreds of millions of people travel home or go on holidays abroad.
The city government made no mention of private vehicles but state media said the provincial government was cutting off Wuhan's highway links.
One resident told Reuters she could not drive out of the city late on Wednesday because guards were blocking the entrance to a highway she hoped to take.
Authorities have advised residents not to leave the city.
Hugo Guo, a 22-year-old university student who returned to Wuhan for the holiday, told Reuters he was resigned to being confined to the city for now but would be keen to get back to his studies in Shanghai.
"I find it acceptable to have to stay at home, but I'm most worried about whether I'll be able to return to school," Guo said by text message.
Footage from state media posted on Twitter showed the city's Hankou railway station nearly empty, its gates barred and the announcement on the suspension of transport posted prominently outside.
People were seen queuing at the station's taxi rank but there did not appear to be many cabs operating.
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