BEIJING -- Hundreds of flights from or to Wuhan had been canceled as of Thursday noon, after Wuhan, the center of a pneumonia outbreak in China, rolled out a slew of unprecedented measures to curb the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

A total of 566 flights were scheduled to leave or arrive in Wuhan on Thursday, but 288 of them had been canceled as of 11:30 am, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

From 10:00 am Thursday, all public transportation, including city buses, subways, ferries and long-distance coaches have been suspended, and outbound channels at airports and railway stations have also been closed until further notice.

The CAAC advised airlines operating flights from or to Wuhan to pay close attention to the development of the pneumonia outbreak and adjust their flight plans accordingly.

As of 8:00 pm Wednesday, a total of 444 cases of novel coronavirus-related pneumonia and 17 deaths had been reported in Hubei Province, where Wuhan is located, according to local authorities.

Nationwide, a total of 17 people have died and 571 cases confirmed in 25 provincial-level regions by the end of Wednesday. The deaths, all in Hubei, were those aged between 48 and 89.