More than half of China extends shutdown over viru

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The majority of China’s growth hubs have delayed the resumption of business by at least a week as the country tries to control the spread of a new coronavirus that has killed more than 200 people.

As of Saturday afternoon, at least 21 provinces, municipalities and other regions in China have told businesses not to resume work before Feb. 10 at the earliest. That’s according to publicly available statements from the governments.

Last year, those parts of China accounted for more than 80% of national GDP, and 90% of exports, according to CNBC calculations of data accessed through Wind Information. As a result, these delays in getting back to work could have a significant impact on the growth and international trade of what is now the world’s second-largest economy.

Morgan Stanley economists estimated earlier this week that if the Lunar New Year holiday was extended by a week nationwide, January and February industrial production could be hit by as much as 5 to 8 percentage points.

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