Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
The PAGEs (see Tabs, above) attempt to make the information more meaningful by putting some structure to the information we have researched and assembled since 2006.
Authorities say a foreigner tested positive without any symptoms and has been isolated in hospital in stable condition
WHO is racing to equip laboratories so they can test for the virus and avert an outbreak on the continent, which has close ties with China
Egyptian quarantine officers prepare to screen travellers arriving at Cairo’s airport. The country has reported its first coronavirus case. Photo: AFP
Africa has reported its first case of the new coronavirus that has so far claimed more than 1,600 lives, with Egypt’s health ministry confirming that a foreigner had tested positive there.
Health experts and African leaders have expressed concern that poorer countries may struggle to cope if the virus spread to the continent. Fears for nations with weaker health systems prompted the World Health Organisation to declare the outbreak of the virus – which originated in China – a global public health emergency in January.
Its director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week said the WHO was racing to equip laboratories in vulnerable African countries with the “capacity to rapidly diagnose cases” to avert an outbreak.
The WHO and Egypt’s health ministry on Friday confirmed the country’s first case was a foreign national who had been isolated in hospital and was in stable condition. Health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said the patient had tested positive for the virus without any symptoms, and the WHO had been informed and measures taken to limit its spread.
The WHO said its Egypt office was working closely with health officials in the North African nation, taking “outbreak investigation and response actions”.
The country’s Eastern Mediterranean neighbour, the United Arab Emirates, had reported eight cases, the WHO said.
The Chinese medical workers on the front line of the coronavirus fight in Wuhan
The virus, which causes a disease known as Covid-19, has infected more than 68,000 people since the outbreak began in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, and it has spread to more than 20 countries.
The first case in Africa comes as countries on the continent have stepped up screening at border checkpoints to prevent the spread of the pneumonia-like illness. Many countries have imposed restrictions on travel to and from mainland China, while six out of eight African airlines with Chinese routes have halted flights until the virus is contained, including EgyptAir.
Egypt has suspended all flights to and from China until the end of the month and has evacuated more than 300 Egyptians from Wuhan.
Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed waits with a medical team at Alexandria’s airport to meet passengers evacuated from Wuhan on February 3. Photo: Reuters
John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said the Addis Ababa-based organisation was “on standby to work closely with the government of Egypt to rapidly contain the spread of the virus”.
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African nations are also equipping laboratories so that they can test for the virus, with the help of the WHO and others.
Until about two weeks ago, there were only two laboratories in the continent of 54 countries – in Senegal and South Africa – with the reagents needed to test for the coronavirus.
That meant dozens of countries that had quarantined suspected patients were sending samples to South Africa or Senegal to be tested. Since then, four more labs have been equipped – in Ghana, Nigeria, Madagascar and Sierra Leone – to test for the virus, according to the WHO.
The global health body has also sent testing kits to Cameroon, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.
Tedros on Monday said the WHO’s immediate “objective remains containment. We call on all countries to use the window of opportunity we have to prevent a bigger fire”.
The Africa CDC has trained health workers from 12 countries in early detection and prevention in Senegal, using testing kits sent by the WHO. Further training would take place in South Africa next week, Tedros said.
“Without vital diagnostic capacity, countries are in the dark as to how far and wide the virus has spread – and who has coronavirus or another disease with similar symptoms,” Tedros said.
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Many countries in Africa are still reeling from the 2014-16 outbreak of Ebola, which killed 11,325 people and infected 28,600. The deadly virus is yet to be contained, with new cases reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo last week.
China disinfects entire cities to fight coronavirus outbreak, some twice a day
There are concerns that Africa’s close links with China put it at high risk for the spread of the new coronavirus. Africa has become home to millions of Chinese since Beijing started looking to the continent for raw materials for its industries and markets for its products, and China has been Africa’s largest trading partner since 2009, after it overtook the United States.
Ethiopian Airlines refuses to bow to pressure to halt flights to China
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China is also a major trading partner of Egypt, with two-way trade standing at US$13.8 billion in 2018, according to the China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Beijing is pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure projects in the country, including building a business district in its new administrative capital, 50km east of Cairo. Chinese firms are also investing billions of dollars in the Egyptian Suez Canal Economic Zone, a project under Beijing’s sprawling trade and infrastructure scheme the Belt and Road Initiative.
Elderly resident says he can’t recall this happening in his city before, not even during the Cultural Revolution
Outbreak is expected to deal a heavy blow to businesses, especially smaller eateries, with some already forced to close
Like many elderly Chinese in Guangzhou, He Zhijian was shocked when he heard there was a ban on eating in restaurants, as authorities try to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The 73-year-old has spent his entire life in the southern city, where gathering for dim sum is an important weekly family ritual.
“My wife and I … are used to having dim sum, tea and Cantonese dishes at the local restaurants every week. From memory, this [type of ban] has never happened in Guangzhou before – not even during the Cultural Revolution,” He said, referring to the decade of social and political upheaval from 1966, when food was in short supply.
The ban took effect at 9pm on Wednesday and is part of measures to contain the outbreak of the virus, which causes a disease officially known as Covid-19, and is believed to have started in Wuhan in December. The pneumonia-like illness has so far
Residents can still get takeaway meals in Guangzhou, but they have been encouraged to order online and have them delivered. Photo: He Huifeng
Guangzhou is home to more than 15 million people and a busy trading port, and has been known as China’s most open city since the 1600s. For locals, going to restaurants for yum cha, or “drinking tea”, and dining on dim sum is an important part of the city’s history and culture – a tradition that has been carried through many generations.
“Even in the ‘three years of natural disasters’ [from 1959 to 1961, when China was in the grip of a famine] I remember there were still restaurants open,” He said. “I was really shocked [by the ban]. I guess the epidemic situation must be severe, otherwise Guangzhou definitely wouldn’t introduce this measure.”
China’s Hubei province reports huge spike in coronavirus cases, rising 10-fold from previous day
Many people in Guangzhou and across the country went back to work on Monday after an extended Lunar New Year break – another measure to try to stop the virus from spreading – with the government keen for businesses to return to normal operations.
The ban on dining in applies to restaurants, but employees can continue to have meals at their company canteens. And while residents can still get takeaways from restaurants, they have been encouraged to do this online, and have their meals delivered, rather than collecting their orders.
Group gatherings have also been banned in the city, and according to Nanfang Daily, some 126 banquets that would have involved more than 90,000 people have been cancelled by authorities already. The authorities did not say how long the measures would be in place.
Guangzhou is not the only city in Guangdong province to bring in a ban on dining in restaurants – Futian district in Shenzhen, Xiangzhou in Zhuhai, Foshan and Zhongshan have all taken the same step.
Beijingers gradually return to work as China’s fight against deadly coronavirus continues
In Guangzhou, while residents try to adapt, businesses are expecting to take a hit. One of the city’s top hotels said the virus outbreak could have a severe impact on the industry.
“Now we will focus on promoting takeaways for local customers. They can order our meals through apps providing online takeaway ordering services,” said Fion Liang, director of sales and marketing at The Garden Hotel. “As for guests staying in the hotel we will deliver meals to their rooms.”
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She said the outbreak did not have a big impact on the hotel’s business in January, because the situation only became severe at the end of the month.
“The impact was definitely much bigger in February. If the epidemic continues to be severe throughout February, the occupancy rate of our rooms will be in the single digits this month,” Liang said. “[Most] hotels in Guangzhou are in the same situation.”
The outbreak is expected to deal a heavy blow to restaurants in the city, especially smaller eateries, and some have already been forced to close. June Zhao, the owner of dumpling restaurant Xi Xi, decided to shut down on Wednesday – the day the eat-in ban was announced.
Prospects had been good for the restaurant – it also sold books and alcohol in the evenings, and its trendy decor drew a young crowd.
“We had just started making money last winter and we were looking forward to earning more over the Lunar New Year holiday. But then the coronavirus came, our turnover fell to several hundred yuan a day, and we lost hope,” she said. “The new ban makes this situation worse – takeaway is not a good choice for dumplings, especially in winter. The losses will continue if we stay open.”
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The ban has also interrupted daily routines. Freelance cameraman Cony Yu, 28, usually spends some of his working day at cafes, but that is no longer possible. “[Now] I don’t have a comfortable place to sit aside from my home – even the parks have all been closed,” Yu said.
China disinfects entire cities to fight coronavirus outbreak, some twice a day
In the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, dining in has also been banned in central Futian district. Zhu Hao, a financial analyst based in the district, has been working from home for a week and ordering takeaway food every day. But he has to collect it from the gate at his residential compound, where security staff check the temperature of anyone entering or leaving.
He is losing patience with the restrictions. “I want to eat out. I want beef hotpot, coconut chicken, Korean barbecue and seafood,” he said.
In other Shenzhen districts, many restaurants and shopping centres have been temporarily closed or can only provide takeaway meals – including fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Starbucks.
Other places have strict rules for customers. At a bread shop, customers must register their ID and phone numbers and have their temperatures checked before they can enter. And for now, all hotpot restaurants have been closed.
Image copyright AFPImage caption A third of the current members of parliament have criminal cases pending against them
“We need to build a consensus on how to prevent individuals with a criminal record from contesting elections.”
A necessary, even obvious fundamental you would think of building the world’s largest democracy.
And when Sonia Gandhi, India’s most powerful politician, uttered those words three years ago, even her main opponent, the leader of the BJP agreed.
Yet since then, things have gone in the opposite direction – with more alleged lawbreakers among India’s lawmakers than ever, a third of the current parliament according to a watchdog called the Association for Democratic Reforms.
By some calculations, politicians with a criminal record are more likely to be elected than those with a clean slate – because, says the ADR, they have more illicit funds with which to buy votes.
And on Tuesday night, India’s cabinet sought to ensure there was even less chance of criminal politicians facing their own laws.
It issued an order overturning a Supreme Court ruling demanding the disqualification of any politician convicted for crimes punishable with more than two years in jail.
This was “to ensure that governance is not adversely impacted“, the government had argued, with no apparent irony intended.
Unusual speed
Arguably, of course, the government is right. Losing tainted local or national politicians – among them many accused murderers, rapists and fraudsters – could upset delicate political alliances and make it even harder to get laws passed.
So often derided for doing nothing, this time round the cabinet acted with unusual speed.
The urgency it appears is the impending conclusion of two cases involving key politicians, due before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gets back to India from a trip to the US.
Image copyright AFPImage caption There’s been some criticism of criminal politicians
One concerns Lalu Prasad Yadav, a former railways minister and Congress party ally, charged with pocketing millions of dollars in subsidies for non-existent livestock.
Another concerns Congress MP Rashid Masood, already convicted of corruption and due to be sentenced next week. When the BBC asked his office for a comment, his assistant told us “he is unwell”.
“Don’t know whether to laugh or cry” tweeted MP Baijayant Panda in response to the government’s protective move.
He is a rare voice though inside the chamber campaigning against criminals sitting alongside him.
There’s been some other criticism outside, but not much. Indians have become very used to these kinds of shenanigans.
Almost forgotten already are calls in the Verma commission report into the December 16 Delhi gang rape case for all politicians accused of sexual crimes to be barred from office. Instead, six politicians charged with rape remain in office.
The opposition BJP has said it will oppose the cabinet order. But its record is just as murky, with even more accused criminals among its elected members in parliament and state assemblies than the Congress.
And with elections round the corner, none of the parties want to risk real reform right now, whatever they have signed up to in the past.
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will be shielded from the sight of slums by a newly built wall when he visits the city of Ahmedabad during a visit to India this month.
A senior government said the wall was being built for security reasons, not to conceal the slum district.
But the contractor building it told Reuters the government “did not want the slum to be seen” when Trump passes by on the ride in from Ahmedabad’s airport.
“I’ve been ordered to build a wall as soon as possible, over 150 masons are working round-the-clock to finish the project,” the contractor said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The government official conceded that the wall was part of a “beautification and cleanliness” drive.
Whatever the reason, the 400-meter-long and seven-feet-high wall will prevent the U.S. leader from getting a glimpse of a slum district that houses an estimated 800 families.
Trump, who has made his pledge to build a wall along the United States’ border with Mexico a feature of his presidency, will visit India on Feb. 24-25 to reaffirm strategic ties that have been buffeted by trade disputes.
He is expected to attend an event dubbed “Kem Chho Trump” (“How are you, Trump”) at a stadium in Ahmedabad along the lines of the “Howdy Modi” extravaganza he hosted for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Houston last September.
Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump quoted Modi as saying “millions and millions of people” would attend the rally.
The event provides Trump, who was impeached in December, with the opportunity to woo the support of hundreds of thousands of Indian-American voters ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.
But some slum dwellers whose homes will be cordoned off by the wall in Ahmedabad – the largest city in Modi’s home state of Gujarat – said the government was wasting tax-payer money to hide the poor.
“Poverty and slums are the reality of our life, but Modi’s government wants to hide the poor,” said Parvatbhai Mafabhai, a day worker who has lived there with his family for more than three decades.
BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) — China highly appreciates a BRICS chairmanship statement in support of China’s fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said Wednesday at an online press briefing.
Russia, holding this year’s chairmanship of the emerging-market bloc that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, on Tuesday issued the statement representing the BRICS countries to support the “firm commitment and decisive efforts of the Chinese government” to combat the epidemic.
The statement also called for international cooperation and coordination within the World Health Organization framework to protect regional and global public health security, and underlined the importance of avoiding discrimination, stigmatization and overreaction while responding to the outbreak.
Calling other BRICS countries as important partners for China, Geng said this statement delivered positive and constructive messages, voiced support for China’s efforts and called for greater international cooperation in safeguarding public health security.
“This demonstrates the BRICS spirit of helping each other during difficult times. It also epitomizes the support China has received from the international community. We highly appreciate it,” he said.
“We will continue to work with the international community including the BRICS countries to combat the epidemic and safeguard regional and global public health security,” said the spokesperson.
BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) — The number of daily new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection fell from a peak of 3,887 on Feb. 4 to 2,015 on Tuesday, with a decrease of 48.2 percent, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
Noting that the epidemic situation remains grave at the moment, NHC spokesperson Mi Feng identified some positive changes in the statistics as a result of a series of effective measures.
For example, the number of newly reported suspected cases dropped by 37.3 percent from 5,328 on Feb. 5 to Tuesday’s 3,342.
He also highlighted the rapid increase in the number of people cured and discharged from hospitals, bringing the recovery rate to 10.6 percent by Tuesday from the lowest level of 1.3 percent on Jan. 27.
The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland reached 44,653 by the end of Tuesday, and 16,067 people remain suspected of being infected with the virus.
A total of 4,740 people had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.
BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China reported on Wednesday its smallest number of coronavirus cases since January, lending weight to a prediction by its top medical adviser for the outbreak to end by April, but a global infectious diseases expert warned of the spread elsewhere.
Financial markets took heart from the outlook of the Chinese official, epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, who said on Tuesday the number of new cases was falling in some provinces, and forecast the epidemic would peak this month, even as the death toll in China rose to more than 1,100 people.
World stocks, which had seen rounds of sell-offs over the virus, surged to record highs on hopes of a peak in cases. The Dow industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all hit new highs, and Asian shares nudged higher on Wednesday.
But the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the epidemic poses a global threat akin to terrorism and one expert coordinating its response said while the outbreak may be peaking at its epicentre in China, it was likely to spread elsewhere in the world, where it had just begun.
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“It has spread to other places where it’s the beginning of the outbreak,” the official, Dale Fisher, head of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network coordinated by the WHO, said in an interview in Singapore.
“In Singapore, we are at the beginning of the outbreak.”
Singapore has reported 47 cases and worry about the spread is growing. Its biggest bank, DBS (DBSM.SI), evacuated 300 staff from its head office on Wednesday after a confirmed coronavirus case in the building.
Hundreds of cases have been reported in dozens of other countries and territories around the world, but only two people have died outside mainland China – one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday the world had to “wake up and consider this enemy virus as public enemy number one” and the first vaccine was 18 months away.
In China, total infections have hit 44,653, health officials said, including 2,015 new confirmed cases on Tuesday. That was the lowest daily rise in new cases since Jan. 30.
The number of deaths on the mainland rose by 97 to 1,113 by the end of Tuesday.
But doubts have been aired on social media about how reliable the figures are, after the government last week amended guidelines on the classification of cases.
‘STAY HOPEFUL’
The biggest cluster of cases outside China is aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off Japan’s port of Yokohama, with about 3,700 people on board. Japanese officials on Wednesday said 39 more people had tested positive for the virus, taking the total to 175.
One of the new cases was a quarantine officer.
Thailand said it was barring passengers from another cruise ship, MS Westerdam, from disembarking, the latest country to turn it away amid fears of the coronavirus, despite no confirmed infections on board.
“We try to stay hopeful,” American passenger Angela Jones told Reuters in a video recording. “But each day, that becomes a little bit more difficult, when country after country rejects us.”
Echoing the comparison with the fight against terrorism, China’s state news agency Xinhua said late on Tuesday the epidemic was a “battle that has no gunpowder smoke but must be won”.
The epidemic was a big test of China’s governance and capabilities and some officials were still “dropping the ball” in places where it was most severe, it said, adding: “This is a wake-up call.”
The government of Hubei, the central province at the outbreak’s epicentre, dismissed the provincial health commission’s Communist Party boss, state media said on Tuesday, amid mounting public anger over the crisis.
China’s censors had allowed criticism of local officials but have begun cracking down on reporting of the outbreak, issuing reprimands to tech firms that gave free rein to online speech, Chinese journalists said.
The pathogen has been named COVID-19 – CO for corona, VI for virus, D for disease and 19 for the year it emerged. It is suspected to have come from a market that illegally traded wildlife in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan in December.
The city of 11 million people remains under virtual lockdown as part of China’s unprecedented measures to seal infected regions and limit transmission routes.
Travel restrictions that have paralysed the world’s second-biggest economy have left Wuhan and other Chinese cities resembling ghost towns.
Even if the epidemic ends soon, it has taken a toll of China’s economy, with companies laying off workers and needing loans running into billions of dollars to stay afloat. Supply chains for makers of items from cars to smartphones have broken down.
ANZ Bank said China’s first-quarter growth would probably slow to 3.2% to 4.0%, down from a projection of 5.0%.
The likely slowdown in China could shave 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points off both euro zone and British growth this year, credit rating agency S&P Global estimated.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s smartphone sales may plunge by as much as 50% in the first quarter, as many retail shops have closed for an extended period and production has yet to fully resume due to the fast spread of a new coronavirus, according to research reports.
The virus outbreak, which has killed more than 900 people and roiled China’s manufacturing industry, comes as top smartphone vendors such as Huawei had hoped China’s 5G rollout plans this year would help the world’s biggest smartphone market rebound after years of falling sales.
“Vendors’ planned product launches will be canceled or delayed, given that large public events are not allowed in China,” research firm Canalys said in a note last week.
“It will take time for vendors to change their product launch roadmaps in China, which is likely to dampen 5G shipments.”
Canalys expects China’s smartphone shipments to halve in the first quarter from a year ago, while IDC, another research firm that tracks the tech sector, forecasts a 30% drop.
Apple Inc said last week it is extending its retail store closures in China and has yet to finalise opening dates, as Foxconn, which assembles iPhones, struggles to fully resume factories.
Foxconn received government approval on Monday to resume production at a plant in the city of Zhenghzou, but its major plant in Shenzhen remain unopened.
Huawei, China’s biggest smartphone vendor, said its manufacturing capacity is “running normally” without specifying further. But like many other local peers, Huawei relies heavily on third-party manufacturers for production.
If factories cannot resume production to full capacity on time, this could delay brands’ ability to bring their newest products to market, analysts said.
Xiaomi Corp, Huawei, and Oppo, three of China’s top Android brands, are all expected to announce flagship devices in the first half.
Oppo told Reuters that while the impact of the virus will affect operations at some local factories, “manufacturing capacity can be guaranteed effectively” thanks to its plants overseas.
Xiaomi did not respond to requests for comment.
“The delays in reopening factories and the labour return time will not only affect shipments to stores, it will also affect the product launch times in the mid- and long-term,” Will Wong, an IDC analyst, said.
Globally, smartphone production will decrease by 12% in the March quarter to a five-year low of 275 million units, research firm TrendForce said on Monday. It revised down iPhone production by 10% to 41 million units, while Huawei’s output forecast was cut by 15% to 42.5 million phones.
Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s top smartphone maker, is seen the least affected by the virus outbreak as its main production base is in Vietnam, the report said, lowering its production forecasts by just 3% to 71.5 million units.
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Friday said production at all of its China plants would remain suspended through Feb. 16, joining a growing number of automakers facing stoppages due to supply chain issues as the coronavirus spreads.
The Japanese automaker, which operates 12 vehicle and components factories in China, said it would extend its production stoppage “after considering various factors, including guidelines from local and region governments, parts supply, and logistics.
“For the week of Feb. 10, we will be preparing for the return to normal operation from Feb. 17 and beyond,” it said in a statement.
The decision extends Toyota’s initial plans to suspend operations through Sunday, and comes as the threat from the coronavirus crisis closes in on the global auto industry.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) and affiliate Kia Motors (000270.KS) said on Friday that they plan to restart production at their Chinese factories on Feb. 17, from a previously planned Feb.9.
“We will take preventive measures against infection at factories,” a spokeswoman said.
A growing number of car makers, including those who do not make cars in China, are flagging the possibility that their global operations could take a hit if they cannot access parts supplies from the country, where there are transportation bans to stop the virus spreading.
Suzuki Motor Corp said it was looking at the possibility of procuring “made in China” car parts from other regions if it cannot access parts due to ongoing stoppages.
The Japanese automaker does not produce or sell any cars in China, but procures some components there for its plants in India, where it controls around half of the passenger vehicle market via its local unit Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MRTI.NS).
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCHA.MI) on Thursday said one of its European plants could close within two to four weeks if Chinese parts suppliers cannot get back to work soon, while Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) earlier this week suspended production at its South Korean plants due to a shortage of China-made parts.
Parts made in China are used in millions of vehicles assembled elsewhere, and China’s Hubei province – the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak – is a major hub for vehicle parts production and shipments.
To limit the spread of the virus, Chinese authorities have announced an extended holiday period in Hubei and 10 other provinces, which account for more than two-thirds of the country’s vehicle production.
IHS Automotive projects plant closures through Feb. 10 would result in a 7% cut in vehicle production in China for the first quarter.
In a note, its analysts said extended closures into March may result in lost production of over 1.7 million vehicles for the period, a decline of roughly one-third of pre-virus output expectations.
“If the situation lingers into mid-March, and plants in adjacent provinces are also idled, the China-wide supply chain disruption caused by parts shortages from Hubei, a major component hub, could have a wide-reaching impact,” they said.
Other industry experts said suppliers had built up a cushion of parts in inventory and in-transit ahead of the long Lunar New Year holiday in late January. Those will start to run out if factories cannot get back to work next week, or if flights to and from China remain limited.
Toyota said its plants outside China were operating as normal for the moment but it has said it was also considering the possibility of manufacturing parts commonly made in China in other regions.
BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) — A slew of preventive measures have been taken to contain the novel coronavirus as a growing number of Chinese people hit the road and return to work after the Spring Festival holiday, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said Thursday.
According to big data analysis, passenger flow is expected to pick up around this weekend, said Cai Tuanjie, an official with the MOT, at a press conference.
To contain virus infections during the trips, railways, airports and other public transportation operators have intensified disinfection, ventilation and sanitation of vehicles and stations, Cai said.
Passengers will go through body temperature screening at both entrances and exits of operating public transportation stations across the country. People found to have caught a fever above 37.3 degrees Celsius will be transferred to health departments.
Meanwhile, steps have been taken to make sure vehicles are not fully booked to allow a safe distance between passengers, Cai said, adding that temporary isolation areas had been set in the vehicles to avoid cross-infections in case of emergency during the journey.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 