China coronavirus: outbreak wreaks havoc on Lunar New Year travel plans, hitting family reunions
- On Wednesday morning, the virus, which can pass from human to human, was confirmed to have killed nine people and infected 440 others
- The outbreak has forced many Chinese people to reconsider plans to travel to their hometowns, particularly trips to or through Wuhan, where the virus originated
The coronavirus outbreak in the city of Wuhan that has spread across the country is threatening to wreak havoc on Lunar New Year travel plans, at a time when many Chinese people journey to their hometowns for family reunions.
Sisi Chen, an office worker in Shenzhen and a Wuhan native, said the outbreak has caused her to skip her annual family reunion for the first time in nearly a decade.
“My parents are in their fifties and are very scared [of the virus]. They told me to stay in Shenzhen,” she said. “I am an only child and this will be the first Lunar New Year holiday that I will spend without my parents.”
Lisa Gao, who works for an overseas branch of a Chinese technology company, flew back to Guangzhou on Monday and had planned to take a connecting high-speed train on to her hometown of Xiangyang in the northern part of Hubei province.