Shanghai Disneyland will close until further notice this weekend due to a deadly virus outbreak that has infected hundreds of people in China, the amusement park said on Friday.

The move was decided "in response to the prevention and control of the disease outbreak and in order to ensure the health and safety" of its guests and staff, Shanghai Disney Resort said on its website.

China on Friday added a ninth city to a transport ban around the epicentre of a deadly virus, bringing the number affected by the shutdown to over 30 million as authorities scramble to control the disease.

Authorities in Jingzhou, located in Hubei province where the virus first emerged, said all rail services leaving the city would close, while public buses, passenger transport, tourism buses, ferries and other boats will temporarily stop operations as well.

Some 32 million people are now affected by travel restrictions around Hubei.

China seals off more cities as virus toll climbs

China sealed off millions more people near the epicentre of a virus outbreak on Friday, shutting down public transport in nine cities in an unprecedented quarantine effort as the death toll climbed to 26.

While the World Heath Organization held off on declaring a global emergency despite confirmed cases in half a dozen other countries, China expanded a lockdown and cancelled some Lunar New Year celebrations to prevent the disease spreading further.

The virus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan has now infected 830 people, the national health commission said.

The new virus has caused alarm because of its similarity to Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

The WHO said China faced an emergency but stopped short of making a global declaration that would have prompted greater international cooperation, including possible trade and travel restrictions.

A virus that turned a major city into a ghost town

Wuhan, a major industrial and transport hub of 11 million people in the centre of the country, has been rendered a ghost town by China's imposition of an unprecedented transport quarantine around it and nearby cities.

China has begun its Lunar New Year holiday, typically marked by family gatherings and public events, but the streets of Wuhan were deserted and stores shuttered. 

Even the police presence, usually prominent in China, was hardly detectable.

Worried patients

In stark contrast, a hospital visited by AFP journalists bustled as worried patients came in to get checked for the virus.

At a temperature-screening station, a medical staffer in full-length white protective suit, face mask and goggles took a thermometer from a middle-aged woman, pausing to examine the reading before quickly turning back to the patient.

"Have you registered? Then go and see the doctor," the staffer said.

One 35-year-old man voiced the fears of many.

"I have a fever and cough, so I'm worried that I'm infected," he said, giving only his surname, Li.

"I don't know the results yet. I'm a bit worried."

With hundreds of millions of people on the move across China for the holiday, the government has halted all travel out of Wuhan, the city's public transport has been suspended, and residents have been ordered not to leave home. 

Few flights were incoming, further isolating the city.

"This year we have a very scary Chinese New Year. People are not going outside because of the virus," said a taxi driver in the city, who asked not to be named.

But he was not concerned about potential food shortages in a prolonged shutdown.

"It's Chinese New Year and people have already bought a lot of things to cook at home for several days," he said. 

But the pathogen, known by its technical name 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), has caused nationwide alarm, with surgical masks selling out at many outlets in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities.