Chinese police used huge iron bars to barricade a screaming woman inside her home in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus that has already killed at least 360 people.

Authorities in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, were filmed locking the woman in her apartment and stopping the family from leaving.

Police even put up a sign warning neighbours to 'stay away' and not to have contact with the people who lived inside because they had recently returned from the outbreak's epicentre of Wuhan.

The footage showed masked men dressed in black screwing huge metal bars and over the doors and windows.

In a video posted on social media on Thursday, a woman could be heard screaming as uniformed officers locked her inside.

Chinese police bolted iron bars across the front door of an apartment in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, to stop a family who had been to Wuhan from leaving

A group of around seven officers wearing face masks shut the family inside as a woman could be heard screaming from inside

Around seven officers barricaded the family inside, with one telling them 'don't come out' as the bars were put in place across the front door.

A sign was then stuck next to the door after it was sealed off, reading: 'This family came back from Wuhan. Stay away, no contact.'

Some officers used their mobile phones to film the final stages of the bars being put in place.

Online videos from other areas around China showed similar scenes in which authorities locked potentially infected families in their homes.

One video reportedly taken in the capital Beijing showed wooden planks being nailed across an apartment door.

Fengsuo Zhou, a Chinese human rights activist, said he had seen videos in at least four different areas across the country, all showing people being locked inside.

As the bars were being put in place a sign saying, 'this family came back from Wuhan. Stay away, no contact' was placed next to the door

Police dressed in black put the family in Nantong on lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus

He said lockdowns were being ordered by the central government to cover up criticism they were too slow to act to tackle the killer coronavirus outbreak.

Zhou told Metro.co.uk: 'People are feeling desperate and angry. The Chinese government is more focused on censorship than public welfare because they know their credibility is challenged.

'They have covered up the crucial information too long. Doctors were censured by police for talking about the pandemic one month ago.'

The death toll from coronavirus soared to 361 on Monday and hit some 24 countries worldwide, with the number of infections in China jumping significantly, passing 17,200.

Many cities have been put on lockdown, with residents only allowed to leave their homes to buy food and face masks.

In another video reportedly from Beijing, authorities were seen speaking to residents (left) before barricading their door shut with wooden planks (right)

Hubei, the province of more than 50million people at the centre of the outbreak, has made it compulsory to wear masks in public.

China's most populous province Guangdong has also done so along with Sichuan, Jiangxi, Liaoning and the city of Nanjing, with a combined population of more than 300million.

The eastern industrial city of Wenzhou was put under a similar lockdown to Wuhan on Sunday.

The G7 countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States - have all confirmed cases of the virus.

The US, Australia, New Zealand and Israel have banned foreign nationals from visiting if they have been in China recently, and they have also warned their own citizens against travelling there.

Mongolia, Russia and Nepal have closed their land borders.