Pneumonia-like illness in Wuhan is unclear in origin, with officials racing to contain outbreak before people travel for new year

China has been battling what may be a new strain of pneumonia after 59 people contracted a mysterious respiratory illness in central China, prompting fears of another Sars outbreak.

Health officials are worried about the upcoming Spring Festival in late January, when China celebrates lunar new year and millions of people will be travelling across the country to go home. Authorities have warned citizens to be on the lookout for symptoms like fever, difficulty breathing or body ache.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, said health officials had “strengthened measures on all borders”. Since Monday, all travellers arriving on trains from Wuhan have been subjected to body temperature checks.

Health authorities in Wuhan first reported 27 cases of an unidentified pneumonia-like illness at the end of December, a figure that jumped to 59 as of Sunday. The patients, seven of whom are in critical condition, have been quarantined. There have been no reported deaths.

Authorities said epidemiologists have ruled out the possibility of Sars, the deadly respiratory virus that spread to at least 37 countries and killed more than 800 people in 2002 and 2003, an outbreak made worse by a government cover-up.

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Wuhan officials said there was no “clear” evidence of human-to-human transmission. Investigators also ruled out Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) and bird flu. Symptoms of the mysterious virus include fevers, problems breathing and invasive lesions to both lungs, shown in radiographs.

Some of the patients worked at a seafood market in the city, according to the health commission, suggesting the possibility of animal-to-human transmission. Several shops at the market also sold wild animals including birds, snakes, deer, groundhogs, according to Chinese media reports.

The market has been shuttered since New Year’s Day. Shopkeepers nearby said they were concerned about the apparent outbreak but continued normal operations.

“Of course we are worried but we don’t wear face masks. It isn’t good for business and also nothing has been confirmed yet,” said a woman surnamed Huang, who sells eyeglasses near the seafood market.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday it was closely monitoring the situation and was in “close contact” with Chinese authorities. “There is limited information to determine the overall risk of this reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology,” the organisation said.

Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, is a major urban centre with a population of more than 10 million. Local authorities have identified 120 close contacts that are now under medical observation, according to the WHO. Wuhan authorities said they were also carrying out extra sanitation and hygiene measures, and investigating the cause of the virus.

Elsewhere in the region citizens braced for the worst. In Hong Kong, which was hit badly by the Sars outbreak, shoppers stockpiled face masks. Hospitals have reported 21 patients with fevers and other respiratory symptoms who recently visited Wuhan. Seven have been discharged and the other cases have so far not proven to be related to the cluster in Wuhan.

In Singapore, where travellers coming from the city are now required to go through temperature screening, a three-year-old Chinese girl who had travelled to Wuhan was quarantined. On Sunday, officials said she had a common childhood respiratory infection.

Authorities also appear to worried about panic spreading, with censors on Weibo blocking the hashtag #WuhanSARS. While Chinese media have been reporting on the outbreak, citizens who remember the Sars cover-up still mistrust the information released by their government.

Online internet users questioned authorities assurance that there were no examples of “clear human-to-human transmission” of the infection.

One user wrote: “Do we have to wait until it is ‘obvious’ before we fix the situation?”

Additional reporting by Lillian Yang