The local governments of Wuhan and Hubei were widely criticized for their delayed responses to the virus and their censorship of the related information during the initial outbreak, especially during the local parliamentary sessions. This allowed early spread of the virus, as a large number of Chinese people returned home for the Chinese New Year vacation from and through Wuhan, a major transportation hub. However, stringent measures such as lockdown of Wuhan and the wider Hubei province and face mask mandates were introduced around 23 January, which significantly lowered and delayed the epidemic peak according to epidemiology modelling. Yet, by 29 January, the virus was found to have spread to all provinces of mainland China. By the same date, all provinces had launched high-level public health emergency responses. Many inter-province bus services and railway services were suspended.