Beijing in shutdown mode as fears grip locals

Beijing

DESERTED streets, quiet markets and near-empty shopping malls. Beijing's thousands of yellow-and-green taxis are nowhere to be seen these days, and those who book transport on Didi's (the Chinese equivalent of Uber) need to wait at least 20 minutes to get a vehicle.

The Chinese capital, officially still celebrating the Lunar New Year, has an air of post-war apocalypse to welcome the Year of the Rat due to the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus.