China has quarantined 16 cities to try and contain the Wuhan coronavirus, putting an estimated 46 million people on lockdown.
On January 23, authorities in Wuhan shut down the city's public transportation, including buses, trains, ferries, and the airport. Quarantines followed in the cities of Huanggang, Ezhou, Chibi, Xiantao, Zhijiang, Qianjjiang, Huangshi, Xianning, Yichang, Enshi, Xiangyang, Jingmen, Xiaogan, Dangyang, and Suizhou.
But some experts fear the quarantine may have come too late, or could even make the situation worse, by making access to food, fuel, and medical supplies more difficult. The mayor of Wuhan said 5 million people fled the city before the quarantine went into effect, as urban Chinese workers headed home for the Lunar New Year.
Kristin Stapleton, an urban historian who studies Chinese history at the University of Buffalo, told Business Insider's Aria Bendix that she thinks "many people are probably staying put out of fear, both of the coronavirus and of the high-tech community surveillance that has become pervasive in Chinese cities."
The virus, which scientists call 2019-nCoV, has killed 107 people and infected nearly 4,600 in 17 countries as of Tuesday, with the vast majority of cases reported in China.