The Chinese economy shaken by the coronavirus
Beijing has extended New Year's week by an additional three days to give authorities more time to screen for new virus cases. Officials said this weekend that patients can be infectious up to 14 days before their symptoms begin, making it more difficult to stop its spread.
In addition to the widespread cancellations of public transportation and New Year's celebrations, the authorities have also closed cinemas, theme parks and other centers during what is normally the busiest time of the year. Tourist arrivals to Macao, the country's gaming capital, have dropped 80% from a year ago, Bloomberg reported.
The number of confirmed cases has risen to 2,744 at the time of writing, including 44 outside China, according to officials from the World Health Organization cited by the BBC. Four were in the United States. The number of deaths has risen to 80. Over the past week, the double digits have increased by about 50% per day.
Most analysts still expect GDP losses to be temporary rather than permanent, although they warn that the impact on the world economy may be greater than during the SARS epidemic in 2003, when China represented a smaller share of world GDP.