China's unprecedented quarantine of 11 million people in Wuhan is 2 weeks old. Here's what it is like in the isolated city.

Sinéad Baker,Sinéad Baker,Sinéad Baker

Feb 7, 2020, 20:48 IST

China's unprecedented quarantine of 11 million people in Wuhan is 2 weeks old. Here's what it is like in the isolated city.

China Daily via REUTERS/ Feature China/Barcroft Media/Getty Images/Business Insider

A composite image showing worker sets up beds at a stadium to convert it into a makeshift hospital, a man disinfecting a woman arriving at a hotel for isolated people, and an aerial view of empty roads and bridges, all in Wuhan, China.

The 11 million residents of Wuhan, China, have been under lockdown for two weeks thanks to the deadly coronavirus.
The residents are worried about food running out, getting the virus from other people in the city, and how to stay entertained as they largely choose to stay in their homes.
The city is shipping in food and building hospitals in just days, while residents are making memes as they wait for things to return to normal.
This is what life in the city is like under quarantine, where China is enforcing increasingly stricter measures.
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The Chinese city of Wuhan has been under a lockdown for two weeks after it was identified as the epicenter of a deadly coronavirus that has killed more than 630 people around the world.

Photos show how the typically bustling city of 11 million people appears to be a ghost town, and people are shouting support from their balconies and running in their apartments as they wait for word on when the spread of the virus might slow, or their quarantine be lifted.

People are allowed outside, but many are choosing to stay indoors. Those who go outside are faced with screenings and everything being disinfected.

A teenager with cerebral palsy has died after his dad was quarantined, while thousands of pets are at risk of starvation in empty homes.

China is bringing in new and stricter measures, and is now ordering all the city's residents to report their temperatures every day, while public venues have been transformed into makeshift medical centers and the city has built new hospitals in just days.

Here's what the city is like:

The city of Wuhan, China, was placed under a lockdown on January 23, leaving around 11 million people quarantined in the epicenter of the virus.

People immediately started to stockpile food and fuel worried that supplies would run out with the city cut off.

But fleets of trucks have been bringing food to the city under orders from the government, which has vowed not to let prices increase. Drivers' temperatures are checked and their trucks are sprayed with disinfectant.

And medical supplies are also constantly arriving into the city.

But because of the travel restrictions, and fears over the virus that can spread from human to human, the streets are largely deserted. This drone footage shows what it's like:

Satellite photos also reveal just how empty the streets are.

Some people are venturing outside, including to buy supplies. Decorations for Chinese New Year serve as a reminder for how the usually huge holiday is being celebrated much differently this year.

For those that do go shopping, they're met with in-store announcements about how to stop the virus spreading.

People have largely been staying in their homes. Video footage showed people yelling out of their apartments to support each other, including saying: "Wuhan come on!"

And state media says that people are reporting running around their apartments — running in circles around beds or even running about 62 miles (100 kilometers) in their living room. People are even sharing their progress with each other on social media.

This boredom has inevitably turned into joke and meme creation.

But even as people have sought to find ways to stay connected, some are slipping through the cracks. A 17-year-old with cerebral palsy died after he was left alone for six days as his father was quarantined.

People who are found to need treatment are now being forced into quarantine.

And as many as 50,000 pets have also been trapped, as their owners are quarantined or unable to return to the city. People are breaking into homes to save animals trapped in homes at the request of their owners, but volunteers are overwhelmed.

China is now is ordering the city's 11 million residents to report their body temperatures every day.

People find themselves facing screenings as they go about their daily lives.

These is not yet any definitive cure for the virus, but people in Wuhan are trying to get their hands on HIV medication after it was suggested as a potential cure.

The streets and the inside of buildings are sprayed with disinfectant to try and stop the virus from spreading.

Some people are also being kept isolated in hotels, where food is delivered to them.

People are disinfected before entering the hotels.

Many international brands have closed their stores in Wuhan, and some have also done so in other parts of China.

The city has turned public spaces like sports centers and exhibition halls into makeshift hospitals.

While other people are being brought for treatment in newly built hospitals that were constructed in just days.

Some people are getting medical treatment outside or in their cars because they are scared of the number of sick people in hospitals.

Medical workers are regularly disinfected.

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