‘Business under coronavirus’ cancelled over epidemic scare

New York: A conference on “Doing Business Under Coronavirus” scheduled for Friday, has been canceled over the virus scare in New York.

The Council on Foreign Relations canceled the roundtable. It also canceled other in-person conferences that were scheduled from March 11 to April 3, including conferences in New York and Washington and national events around the US, the Bloomberg reported.

Over 50 major corporate events with an estimated attendance of almost 1 million people have been canceled in the US alone.

Post the virus outbreak, schools and colleges in Italy, Iran, mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and elsewhere have been shut.

Italy

Infections in Italy topped the 10,000 mark — more than anywhere but China — and the number of deaths from the virus rose Tuesday to 631 from 463 a day earlier, Italian Civil Protection authorities said. The country now faces a lockdown to contain the infection.

Latin America

In Latin America, the virus and its wide-ranging effects on business have it bracing for a downturn that could test the resilience of the beleaguered region’s already ailing economy.

China

China, where the virus emerged, has been making inroads into Latin America over the last two decades. It is now the region’s second-largest trading partner, meaning any economic contraction there will have a ripple effect. Demand for products like Chilean salmon and Argentinian beef has dipped. The prices of all important commodities like copper and oil have also declined.

Countries such as Chile, Peru, and Mexico, with export-driven economies, are likely to see the most serious impact, while others like Brazil and Argentina, whose markets are more closed, could be somewhat shielded from the fallout.

The deadly virus has claimed 4,250 lives and infected 110,000 people globally.