Wuhan coronavirus: 2 cities locked down, disrupting Lunar New Year travel plans of millions

Travelers at Wuhan's Hankou railway station queue to leave the city early on Thursday morning before the citywide lockdown came into effect

Authorities in China have enforced a partial lockdown of transport links in and out of the central city of Wuhan and nearby Huanggang, disrupting the Lunar New Year travel plans of millions as part of efforts to contain a deadly coronavirus outbreak.

The lockdowns come as the Chinese government revealed that seven of the 17 people who have died from the Wuhan coronavirus did not have pre-existing conditions before they contracted the illness.

Wuhan -- ground zero for the pneumonia-like respiratory virus -- "temporarily" closed its airport and railway stations on Thursday for departing passengers. All public transport services in the city of 11 million people have also been suspended until further notice.

On Thursday afternoon, transport authorities began shutting down some of the main highways leaving Wuhan, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The wearing of face masks is now mandatory in all public places in the city, including hotels, restaurants, parks, cafes, and shopping malls.

"People who don't obey the requirements shall be dealt with by authorities in accordance with their respective duties and laws," a statement from Wuhan's municipal government said on Wednesday.

Authorities in Huanggang, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Wuhan, announced a series of similar measures cutting off the city as of midnight local time (11 a.m. ET on Thursday).

Government officials said in a statement that the city's subway and train stations will close, per a report in the People's Daily, a state-run newspaper. All theaters, internet cafes and indoor public culture, tourism and entertainment facilities in the city will also stop business, People's Daily reported.

Hundreds of thousands of people will likely be affected. The entire administrative area of Huanggang has a population of 7.5 million, but People's Daily reported that the lockdown only applies to the urban area, which is only a part of the total population.

There was an unusual flurry of activity around the train stations in Wuhan early Thursday morning, as passengers -- most of them wearing face masks -- scrambled to leave the city before the lockdown began. Families were seen unloading their cars and hurrying to get into lines that already stretched outside the doors.