U.S., Jan. 25 -- Today is the 24th of January 2020, which is the Chuxi (??), the last day of the Earth Pig year and New Year's Eve for the Metal Rat year, starting a new round as the first of the twelve years of the Chinese Zodiac calendar.

This should be a day of celebration and expectations of a joyful week of food and fun and togetherness for hundreds of millions of families in China.

Instead, a new outbreak of a Coronavirus has resulted in anxiety, the cancellation of official celebrations, the closure of attractions like the Forbidden City or Shanghai Disneyland and the lockdown of more than 30 million inhabitants of cities in Hubei province.

The coming week was supposed to see again the largest annual human migration in the world...