Chinese officials have called on anyone who was in Wuhan in the last 14 days to self-quarantine and report to community leaders in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to an expert speaking at the Chinese National Health Commission press conference on Monday.

There are no official figures on the number of people who have visited, or passed through the city since the outbreak was first identified in mid-December.

However, the number is likely to be large. Wuhan, which is home to an estimated 11 million people, is one of China's most important cities.

Located on the confluence of the Yangtze River and its largest tributary, the Han River, it is considered the political and economic capital of central China.

It's also a major travel hub.

In addition to conventional railway networks, Wuhan is one of the stops on two of the main long-haul high-speed railway lines: Beijing-Guangzhou (from north to south) and Shanghai-Chengdu high-speed railway (from east to west).

It's also home to one of just four major train maintenance centers in the country.

The city's international airport is the only airport in the mid-China region to have direct flights to five different continents.

According to data from aviation website Flightconnections.com, Wuhan Airport services non-stop scheduled passenger flights to 109 destinations in 20 countries. These include major cities like London, Moscow, Paris, Rome, New York, San Francisco, Bangkok, Tokyo and Seoul.

The airport's passenger throughput in 2018 exceeded 24 million and was expected to hit 29 million in 2019.