BEIJING (REUTERS) - Bundled up in winter clothes as they head home for the Lunar New Year holiday amid a health scare over a mystery new virus, Chinese travellers on the teeming concourse of Beijing West station were evenly split between the masked and the barefaced.

Covering up was clearly the best decision for many of the passengers waiting to board the packed train carriages for the 5-1/2 hour journey to Wuhan, the epicentre of an outbreak that has sent shivers through the world's most populous country.