The Wuhan coronavirus has forced major businesses and small industries to evacuate from the city, and from China. Accordingly, this is an attempt to protect workers and minimize spreading.
Not only business owners who attempt to evacuate their employees, but country leaders take parts as well. As per January 26, foreign business from the US, Europe, and neighboring Asian countries are fleeing from the city.
The newest update came from Honda Motor Co. who planned to evacuate 30 Japanese staff, family members, and people on business trips. However, several crucial staff for operations will stay in the city.
McDonald’s temporarily closed its stores in Hubei, including those in Wuhan. Disney did the same thing by stopping its Shanghai Disneyland from operating.
Car manufacturer PSA Group halted its production as well due to the outbreak. Moreover, restaurants and cafes such as Starbucks closed stores to avoid further virus transmissions.
The coronavirus epidemic definitely is a huge blow towards business and economic sectors in China, remembering Wuhan is an important global business hub. According to Bloomberg’s supply chain database, the city owns approximately 500 facilities, ranking it 13th globally.
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China Coronavirus – Business Latest Updates
Based on John Hopkins University’s live tracking dashboard, Wuhan coronavirus has 2.794 confirmed cases by now. Of those, 2.737 cases occurred in China alone.
Both Hong Kong and Thailand confirmed 8 cases, while Macau found 6 cases. The US, which previously discovered 2 cases, has found another 3.
Four cases were found in Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan respectively. Meanwhile, France, Vietnam, Canada, South Korea, and Nepal did not report any increase.
Currently known as 2019-nCoVs, the pathogen belongs to coronavirus family, the same as deadly 2002 SARS. However, the novel virus transmits differently from SARS as it is gaining momentum.
“If this transmission mode is contributing significantly then control becomes increasingly difficult. It’s looking like this coronavirus is behaving very differently to SARS and MERS, and this is a big concern,” Jonathan Balled , a Professor of Molecular Virology at the University of Nottingham, explained.
Despite everything, the Chinese Minister of National Health Commission Ma Xiaowei argued that the virus is less deadly than SARS. Furthermore, the novel coronavirus is infectious during its incubation, which is between the exposure and first indications of symptoms.
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