BEIJING, January 23. /TASS/. Chinese authorities have cut bus and waterborne services to the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, over a pneumonia outbreak caused by the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, the country’s Transport Ministry said.

According to the ministry, local transport authorities have been instructed to suspend public transportation in Wuhan, a city with a population of about 11.1 mln.

Wuhan has actually been put on quarantine. Authorities recommend that local residents refrain from leaving the city without a good reason. Train service to the neighboring city of Ezhou has also been suspended, as well as bus and train services to the city of Huanggang.

Cases of pneumonia have been reported in all regions of China, except for the Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous territories and the Qinghai province. Suspected cases have been detected in the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, as well as in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Infection cases have also been recorded in Thailand, South Korea, the United States and Japan.

The Chinese authorities earlier confirmed 617 cases of patients infected with the virus and 17 deaths.