Beijing (AFP)

Dead city operation. In the heart of China, the giant metropolis of Wuhan, epicenter of the new coronavirus, is closing in on itself, in the hope of stemming the epidemic.

The vast majority of 440 cases of contamination by this new virus, of the same family as SARS, have been recorded in this city of 11 million inhabitants, a real communication node located on the banks of the Yangtze, the longest river. from China.

The outbreak was first detected last month at a city fish market. Nine people have since died, and scientists fear a mutation and spread of the virus.

After ignoring the disease for weeks, residents have brutally removed the respiratory masks in recent days, told AFP residents reached from Beijing.

"The fear has really increased since Monday, when it was revealed that people could be contagious with each other," said Melissa Santos, a Dominican student living in Wuhan since 2018.

The authorities had initially explained that the virus seemed to be transmitted directly from animals to humans, and that there was no human-to-human contamination.

Charly Bonnassie, a French student who took a train from Wuhan on Wednesday, says that "100% of travelers and staff" wore masks.

"There are no more masks in pharmacies, everything has been swept away," reports Vincent Lemarié, a French professor who teaches at the University of Science and Technology in Hubei, Wuhan province.

- Game in the viewfinder -

Authorities are concerned about the risk of contamination as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel during Lunar New Year holidays, which officially start on Friday.

"If it is not necessary, we advise people not to come to Wuhan," city mayor Zhou Xianwang said on television.

At a press conference in Beijing, the deputy minister of the national health commission, Li Bin, also suggested to residents of the metropolis not to leave it.

Fever detectors have been installed in stations and at the airport. On the roads, body temperature checks take place at roadblocks, while organized coach trips are no longer allowed to leave the city.

The police also check the presence of game and live poultry on board vehicles entering or leaving the city.

Illegal sales of wild animals were taking place in the market where the epidemic started, said director of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention Gao Fu on Wednesday.

However, he could not say with certainty that game was the cause of the epidemic.

- Private of temple -

In order to avoid any gathering, the authorities have canceled the festivities that were scheduled for the first day of the Chinese New Year, which falls this year on January 25.

The famous Guiyuan Buddhist temple, which last year hosted no less than 700,000 worshipers around the occasion of the New Year around a giant statue, is set to cancel the celebrations.

Some 30,000 people had already reserved their ticket to access the temple and another 200,000 tickets had been distributed free of charge.

The brand new Municipal Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters prohibited any artistic performance and closed the museum.

Criticized for organizing a banquet last weekend to which 40,000 families were invited, the mayor had to explain that he had not realized the extent of the epidemic.

"People are a little worried," says Melissa Santos.

"A friend who invited me to spend New Years with him in another city in Hubei preferred to cancel," she said.

"He is afraid that I will contaminate him. Personally, I also preferred to cancel my stay so as not to take the train and find myself next to infectious people".

© 2020 AFP