Photos from the frontline of China’s struggle to contain the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, selected by Sixth Tone’s visual editors
By Ding Yining and Qi Ya
This year’s Spring Festival was not a normal holiday. China’s vacation plans were derailed by an outbreak of a novel coronavirus that has killed more than 300 people and infected at least another 10,000 as of Feb. 2. During the past 10 days, the country has entered something resembling a war footing, quarantining entire cities and rushing reinforcements to overstretched and undersupplied hospitals. Here is a selection of images from the heart of the crisis.
Frontline: Wuhan
A medical worker is on shift at the infectious diseases department at Xiehe Hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, Jan. 23, 2020. Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua
An aerial view of the construction site for a special hospital for treating novel coronavirus patients in Wuhan, Hubei province, Jan. 24, 2020. The new facility, named Huoshenshan Hospital, is completed on Feb. 2, 2020. Xinhua
Workers continue the construction of another special new facility, named Leishenshan Hospital, in Wuhan, Hubei province, Jan. 30, 2020. Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua
A medical worker (left), who is traveling to Wuhan to reinforce the city’s overstretched hospitals, says goodbye to a family member in the northwestern city of Urumqi, Jan. 28, 2020. Wang Fei/Xinhua
Cities on Alert
Passengers arriving in Shanghai wait to pass an infrared thermal imaging scanner, designed to identify those suffering from a fever, at Shanghai Railway Station in Shanghai, Jan. 31, 2020. Yi Chuan for Sixth Tone
A worker in a protective suit directs passengers at Shanghai Railway Station in Shanghai, Jan. 31, 2020. Yi Chuan for Sixth Tone 
A flight attendant wearing a face mask assists passengers during a flight from Chongqing to Beijing, Jan. 29, 2020. Jiang Wenjie for Sixth Tone
A security guard tests the body temperature of a passerby in Haikou, Hainan province, Jan. 29, 2020. From “Epidemic Resistance Record,” an online project featuring the work of photographers from several Chinese cities. Courtesy of Shun Zi via Alltu
A worker sprays disinfectant in the departures hall of Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, Feb. 1, 2020. Yi Chuan for Sixth Tone
Passengers wait at a ticket barrier in Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, Jan. 23, 2020. Wu Huiyuan/Sixth Tone
Villages Take Protective Action
Families Take Their Own Measures
Tourists wear helmets made from plastic bottles. From @眼科小超人老梁 on Weibo
A woman forces her granddaughter to wear a face mask in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Jan. 28, 2020. Chen Zhongqiu for Sixth Tone
A tourist wearing a mask walks along the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Jan. 30, 2020. Chen Zhongqiu for Sixth Tone
Editors: Dominic Morgan and Qi Ya.
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