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Firms in China extend holidays, ask staff to work from home as virus spreads
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A paramilitary police officer wearing a protective facemask to help stop the spread of a deadly SARS-like virus, which originated in the central city of Wuhan, stands guard at the exit of the Forbidden City in Beijing on Jan. 25, 2020. (AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)
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ig businesses across China are temporarily shutting stores or advising staff to work from home, to guard against the spread of a flu-like virus as the tally of deaths rose to 80, with more than 2,700 people infected, Reuters reported.
Companies are also offering longer holidays, canceling events and imposing quarantine, as they brace for longer-term impact following China's weekend decision to extend the week-long Lunar New Year holiday by three days to Feb. 2, in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.
Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak and the capital of the central province of Hubei, is already under virtual lockdown, with severe curbs on movement in place in several other cities.
Hotpot restaurant chain Haidilao International Holding said it would shut stores across China from Sunday to Friday, while gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and social media firm ByteDance told staff to work from home.
Many companies, including e-commerce firm Pinduoduo, bank UBS Group AG and property developer Country Garden also advised employees returning from Wuhan or Hubei province to stay in quarantine at home.
The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (HKEX) canceled a Wednesday ceremony for the first trading day of the Lunar New Year, it said on Monday, due to the increasing risk of coronavirus infection.
The decision comes after Hong Kong banned residents of Hubei from entering the territory from Monday.
Businesses in China's eastern manufacturing hub of Suzhou, home to a big industrial park for pharmaceutical firms and tech companies, will stay shut until at least Feb. 8, to guard against any spread, the city government said in a statement on Sunday.
E-commerce firm Alibaba halted sales of overpriced face masks in its online Taobao marketplace as prices surged.
Meanwhile, Premier Li Keqiang on Monday became the most senior Chinese leader to visit Wuhan since the city was struck by the outbreak of a deadly virus that has spread across the country and sparked global concern, AFP reported.
Wearing a mask and blue plastic scrubs, Li was in Wuhan to "investigate and guide" ongoing efforts to control the virus in the city of 11 million people, which has been placed under an unprecedented quarantine, China's State Council said on its official social media account.
The State Council, China's cabinet, said Li would meet with patients and medical staff on the frontline.
The premier was appointed head of a working group to tackle the epidemic, which began at a market in Wuhan that was selling wild animals for food.
The group has already announced an extension to the Lunar New Year holiday originally scheduled to end on Jan. 30 "to reduce population flows".
Transport curbs have also been imposed around China to cut off transmission routes.
With the coronavirus also expanding globally, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is traveling to Beijing to meet with government officials on the crisis.
