An eerie calm has descended on the normally bustling streets of the city of 11 million people, where Schneider has been studying geodesy - a branch of applied mathematics - at Wuhan University, about 10 miles (16 km) from where experts believe the new coronavirus originated in a market illegally trading in wildlife.
![Im in an apocalypse: American student trapped in coronavirus-hit Chinese city](https://media.zenfs.com/en-US/reuters.com/77173332c101caf945cd2986303e470a)
Chinese officials cut most transport links to Wuhan on Jan. 23 in an effort to slow transmission of the virus, which has infected nearly 6,000 people in
China - more cases than were recorded in the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak - and killed more than 130 people.