China Says Death Toll Hits 259, Apple Temporarily Closes All Stores in Mainland China

• 02.01.2020, 11:50
•  Asia,  World,  No-politics

Tech giant Apple has temporarily shut down all its stores, corporate offices and contact centers in mainland China through Feb. 9, according to a statement from the company on Saturday, CNBC reports.

It says its online store in China remains open.

As of midday on Saturday, at least 19 provinces, municipalities and regions have told businesses not to resume work before Feb. 10 at the earliest, based on publicly available information.

Last year, these parts of China accounted for roughly 80% of national GDP, and 90% of exports, according to CNBC calculations of data accessed through Wind Information.

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.

China’s National Health Commission said there have been an additional 46 deaths and 2,102 new confirmed cases, as of the end of Friday. That brings the country’s total to 259 deaths and 11,791 confirmed cases, the government said.

Hubei Province’s local health commission reported 45 new deaths from the outbreak on Friday, bringing the total to 249. The province confirmed 1,347 new cases of infection on Friday, with the total reaching 7,153 by the end of the day.