As coronavirus spreads across China, cities resemble ghost towns, residents show how to kill time

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By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: January 31, 2020 3:00:24 pm

A man wearing a face mask waits for a train at a nearly empty subway station in Beijing. (AP Photo: Mark Schiefelbein)

The novel coronavirus, which has now spread to every region of China and more than 20 other countries, was Thursday declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO). The death toll due to the virus rose to 213 Friday, with the number of confirmed cases exceeding 9,000, China’s health authorities confirmed.

Several countries are scrambling to evacuate their nationals from China, and in particular Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. The city of 11 million is in lockdown as authorities try to contain the virus.