Virus puts damper on Lunar New Year, China's biggest holiday

BEIJING (AP) — Temples have locked their doors. The Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and other major tourist destinations are closed. Restaurant reservations are being cancelled.

A virus that has killed more than two dozen people and sickened hundreds more has all but shut down China's biggest holiday of the year, the Lunar New Year, which falls on Saturday. Instead of family reunions or sightseeing trips, many of the country's 1.4-billion people are hunkering down as the nation scrambles to prevent the virus from spreading further.

“Have bought food and snacks. Will not visit friends, relatives and not receive guests during the Spring Festival. Just stay at home to enjoy a quiet New Year," said a typical post on China's Weibo social media service.

The New Year holiday period, more commonly called the Spring Festival, has evolved over more than 3,000 years to become the most important of China's festivals.

Workers in cities or factory towns return to their hometowns to visit their parents, and others take vacations, in what has been described as the largest annual migration of people in the world. Millions still traveled this year, though authorities this week cut off flights, trains and other transport from Wuhan, after travelers from the city where the viral illness broke out started carrying it to other parts of China and abroad.

The Year of the Rat, one of 12 zodiac signs in the Chinese calendar, begins Saturday, and government offices and most companies shut down for a week starting New Year's Eve.

The day before the New Year is for family dinners, traditionally at home, and likely more so this year. The Beijing News newspaper reported that 15% of dinner reservations had been cancelled in the Chinese capital, and that some were buying dishes at...