BEIJING — Chinese authorities plan to close off Wuhan — a city of more than 11 million people and the epicenter of a mysterious, pneumonia-like virus that has already spread halfway around the world — canceling planes and trains leaving the city beginning Thursday, and suspending buses, subways and ferries within it.
The announcement, shared on Chinese state media just hours before it was to take effect, was a significant escalation from just the day before, when the authorities had urged people not to travel to or from the central Chinese city but had stopped short of shutting down transportation. The new virus, which first emerged at the end of December, has killed at least 17 people and sickened more than 470.