SINGAPORE - While on his way to the railway station to catch a 3.30am train out of Wuhan on Thursday (Jan 23), Singaporean Eric Kng got a surprising alert on his phone: The city would be quarantined and all public transport would cease at 10am.

His train to Shenzhen, nearly empty at the odd hour, would be one of the last few to leave ground zero of the virus outbreak that has killed 17 and infected more than 500.