WUHAN, China—As the sun rose Thursday morning, Wuhan’s streets filled with people making their way to one of the main train stations, trying to escape being trapped in the city with a virus that had already killed 56 people.
Thousands of travelers packed the station’s waiting hall after Chinese authorities announced plans to block travel out of the city, the latest measure to stop the spread of a deadly new strain of coronavirus believed to have emerged from an animal market in Wuhan. Some sat calmly, eating and chatting, while others, late to hear about the lockdown, rushed through in a panic.
“If I don’t leave now, I won’t be able to get out,” said 31-year-old Gong Xiang, with her feet perched on a fabric duffel bag that she had packed just hours earlier. The warehouse manager said she learned of the travel ban at 3 a.m. and immediately booked a 9 a.m. train ticket to Handan, a city in northern China’s Hebei province where she has relatives.
A masked traveler checked his phone at one of the main train stations in Wuhan on Thursday as authorities prepared to suspend rail and air travel in the Chinese city, which has a population of 11 million. PHOTO: SHAN LI/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A quarantine of a city this large is unprecedented. Wuhan is China’s eighth-largest metropolis, housing a population of 11 million in dense high-rises that sprawl out along either side of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
Ms. Gong sat next to her 56-year-old father. She said she worried about his health if they remained at the epicenter of the outbreak. They had lost trust in the government after officials disclosed only this week that the virus could be transmitted between people, she said.
“They weren’t honest and waited weeks to tell us common people,” she said, predicting a wave of anger and panic once people woke up to the lockdown. “Once they start closing ways out, who is brave enough to stay?”
Travelers streamed toward the waiting room at one of the main stations in Wuhan, hoping to get on one of the last trains before the lockdown on Thursday. PHOTO: SHAN LI/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By 8:30 a.m., all but two of the 20 manned ticket counters at the railway station were open, serving lines of people at least 15 deep. Those lucky enough to exchange or buy a ticket sprinted toward the main entrance, dragging suitcases and bags along.
Some were too late. Deng Qianling, 20 years old, sat on a window ledge inside the ticket room clutching a paper shopping bag of clothes she had cobbled together that morning. She said a friend woke her up at 7 a.m. with the news, and she hustled onto the subway. When she tried to exchange her noon ticket for an earlier one, the booking platform on her phone showed none was left for her hometown of Xiangyang, 180 miles to the northwest.
“I got out of bed and ran out,” the waitress said, gesturing to her phone. She had been trying unsuccessfully for the past hour to switch her ticket. “All the tickets are gone.”
The rest of Ms. Deng’s family, including her elder sister, had already gone back to Xiangyang for the annual Lunar New Year holiday, which officially begins on Friday. She said she had been afraid of the virus and was looking forward to leaving town to see family. Now, she tried to reassure herself that her fear was overblown.
“There’s no need to worry,” she said, her voice wavering. “As long as you’re not infected, you’re fortunate.”
Police outside the train station in Wuhan as a deadline approached to lock down the city, the epicenter of a new viral outbreak. PHOTO: SHAN LI/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
With an hour left before the lockdown deadline, a sense of panic set in. About a dozen police vans lined up on one side of the station, with dozens of black-uniformed police standing in formation outside. An armored black police car, with a smaller police van on the side, sat guarding the front of the manned ticket counters.
Police began checking people’s tickets and turning them back if the departure time was after 10 a.m. Troops in green winter coats stood ramrod straight watching last minute travelers rush into the station.
“What closure? What closure? I didn’t hear of one,” one woman cried in frustration as she was turned away and told to go to the ticket counter for a refund.
Another screamed, “What if we can’t get new tickets? What happens?”
Inside, the station was jarringly calm. Around 9 a.m., people quietly boarded the G512 to Beijing, filling the cars like refugees fleeing a crisis. When the train, one of the last to leave Wuhan, pulled out of the station to begin its 5½-hour journey, a sense of relief washed over those inside. Several hopped on the phone with relatives to explain the sudden change of plans.
“As soon I stepped in, the door closed behind me,” said one woman, repeating the line again and again with a mix of relief and bewilderment.Thank you for reading. Kindly share also.
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