With the world population of 7.7 billion, the chance of controlling viruses to prevent outbreaks become harder and harder every year. These new viruses are due to drug-resistant bacteria that are cultivated by the rising population. As the first virus outbreak of 2020, the Coronavirus, originating in China and spreading to nearby and across-the-sea countries. This isn’t the first time China has dealt with the Coronavirus. Back in 2002, there was an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused by the SARS Coronavirus. Within weeks, the virus had spread to 37 different countries, infecting 8,000 people worldwide, about 800 who had died (LiveScience). The symptoms of the virus back from 2002 and in 2020 is respiratory distress, contracted by person-to-person spread.
As an effect economically, the new outbreak is estimated to have China’s economy to decline by $62 billion in lost growth. This impact is much greater adding on to the 2019 year being their weakest in three decades caused by rising debt and failed trade war with the United States (CNN).
With this large outbreak, businesses had shut down to prevent further connections to the outbreak; however, this impacts people not being able to work and make money, but also prevents consumers buying goods and services. In order to prevent their economy from completely collapsing, major banks are working together to slow down loan interests and may even delay all payments for several months. With this transition, this will certainly give a break for businesses, but depending how long the coronavirus will be quarantined, the money the banks are losing will put a huge dent into the nation’s debt.
Of course the outbreak doesn't just hurt China’s economy, but also affects countries that receive exports from China. In 2018, China was one of the world’s largest exporters by value, exporting $2.294 billion (USD) worth of products according to the International Trade Centre. This causes major changes for the countries who receive those products. Depending on what those products are, they may be discontinued until the virus has been quarantined, or become a meer shortage. China’s biggest product exported in 2019 was electrical machinery (Workman). This category ranges from all uses in machines that help produce products in the industry field from the country importing, and simply the products straight off the shelves. There is also the flip side to the shortage in products. When China does solve the outbreak, countries may not trust to import products from China as they were potentially being held during the outbreak and can transfer the virus to other countries. Politically, the debate whether allowing these products allowed back into the importing countries will be condescending on the end where those countries will gain more power by unethically asking for lower prices to help their own economy or “brag” their disease control center would never allow for such an action that would lead to an outbreak.
As for the fear of the outbreak continuing through products, there is also the consideration of the closed airports. January 25th, 2019, was Chinese New Years, the busiest time of the year for travel in China and nearby countries. Saying the coronavirus started in December 2019, with few people not knowing the potential outbreak of the virus, people continued to travel via cars, trains, buses, and airplanes. This means that whoever had traveled during the New Year’s season could have potentially been in contact with the virus, allowing it to spread exponentially. Airlines have been shut down with the opportunity cost of losing money with the thousands of cancellations. Air Canada, which primarily flies to Beijing and Shanghai, had to cancel 33 flights; however, was able to allow passengers directed towards the region to change or cancel further flights. Then there is also Air France, which to make up for the broken relationship between the company and passengers, some employees had volunteered to offer relief for those stuck in the affected regions to help evacuate (Pallini). The airline companies do not necessarily have a choice in the many cancellations in the matter causing a very great decrease in profit (not that airlines made much profit in the first place). With the loss in the budget, it may hurt the employment of the companies, as well as the money that keeps the quality high in order to compete with other airline companies. This may lead to higher prices however may prevent passengers from wanting to buy a plane ticket with the higher price plus the unknown potential of the outbreak.
Although what was mentioned will affect China’s economy for years, it was only the tip of the iceberg. There are still macro and micro details that will take place during the outbreak and once it is conserved. Currently, most donations and taxes are going towards the medical field to handle the stress it has put on the hospitals as well as research into how it has started and how to end it. After the outbreak, there will be further research into how to prevent another outbreak and procedures and audits for testing facilities on how they react with a similar scenario.
Works Cited
“5 Scariest Disease Outbreaks of the Past Century.” LiveScience, Purch, www.livescience.com/41478-scariest-disease-outbreaks.html.
“Export Impact For Good.” ITC, www.intracen.org/country/china/.
He, Laura. “The Coronavirus Could Cost China's Economy $60 Billion This Quarter. Beijing Will Have to Act Fast to Avert a Bigger Hit.” CNN, Cable News Network, 31 Jan. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/01/31/economy/china-economy-coronavirus/index.html.
Pallini, Thomas. “At Least 73 Airlines Have Canceled Flights to China amid Coronavirus Fears - Here's the Full List.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 6 Feb. 2020,
www.businessinsider.com/airlines-canceling-changing-flights-to-china-amid-coronavirus-fears-2020-1#air-france-4.
Workman, Daniel. “China's Top 10 Exports.” World's Top Exports, 22 Jan. 2020, www.worldstopexports.com/chinas-top-10-exports/.
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, it is truly crazy to think that the coronavirus has affected China’s economy and caused it to decline by $62 billion in lost growth. In all honesty, when this disease was spreading, I wasn't thinking of the economic downfall it was causing. I was simply thinking of the affect it has on citizens of neighboring countries. Not only has China's economy decreased, but rising debt and failed trade war with the United States, has also caused a drop in their economy. Not only has the corona virus affected China, but it is now affecting other countries. After the loss of economic growth within China, it is scary to see where this will eventually happen as well. Overall great post and very informative!! -Ellie A
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing information about this trending topic, I was able to learn lots of new information from your piece. It's crazy to think about just how much damage can occur on a global scale from a disease outbreak in a single country, however it wouldn't be nearly as bad if they country weren't such a big global player like China. It's also very interesting to consider how this event will affect the future of China and the economy of the world. A drop in the bucket like this could end up being the cause for huge waves in the future, so hopefully we can adapt for whatever consequences this event may bring in the future.
ReplyDeleteIt’s so crazy to think that this virus could effect the economy this much. I was surprised to hear that this same virus has been spread before in the past. So I guess my question is, if we have dealt with this same situation before, what is stopping us from working and securing a cure or solution?
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting topic to think about how not only is the coronavirus bad for people’s health, but also the public image of a country. I especially like the section about airlines and it makes me wonder, would airlines companies such as Air Canada or Air France cancelling flights to asian countries be good for those countries? For airlines that are from Asian, such as Asiana Airlines or Singapore Airlines, would it be good for them because they now have less companies to compete with in pricing and can now take advantage of the people that still want to travel to Asia. Thus, one companies loss is another's gain.
ReplyDeleteThe coronavirus infections in mainland china have been slowing down. However this virus remains a threat to all if our guard is lowered and quarantine efforts aren't applied at full effect. It's hard to trust exports from a country that is home to a pandemic. I wonder how much exports have decreased as a result of the coronavirus and how the Chinese populace will respond to the government when this national emergency is over. I hope countries that were affected by the outbreak and if as a whole, we improved our defense against similar viral outbreaks so that events such as this don't rise to the level of the coronavirus again.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting and unique perspective on the Coronavirus outbreak. It is cool to see the impacts of the outbreak outside of health concerns. Although china is the epicenter of the Coronavirus there is no doubt that this could economically damage other countries outside of having to cancel flights to/from china and surrounding countries. As you mentioned, china is one of the worlds biggest exporters and since many businesses will be closing temporarily, the amount of exported product will decrease. I think this could be a good thing for countries like our own. A large percentage of our manufacturing is outsourced to other countries so if we are no longer given the option to import products or outsource jobs then we may become more independent and rely less on foreign economies. Although it could economically damage America, we could also gain a great deal from this unfortunate crisis.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot to take In when it goes to hearing something taking lives so effortlessly. We've been fighting globally against all sorts of virus outbreaks like Ebola, Marburg, and even the common flu. I was not aware that there were previous issues with the coronavirus. It will be interesting to see how the economy is affected by the results of the outbreak and how far this outbreak will reach around the world. Very informal post.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of the virus travelling through products is not something that occurred to me, but is actually a very big problem when it comes to the economy. In fact, it actually affected our school personally-- the drama department was supposed to receive fans (for some reason I cannot remember), but they were from China, where the virus broke out, so we are not receiving them for quite some time. One positive of this situation is that debt is able to be erased, unlike human deaths, so I really hope countries are able to learn from this and grow their defenses against viruses such as this one.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting read. It made me think about not only how many people were affected health-wise in terms of the Coronavirus, but also financially. I had thought about some of that before, because it has actually affected myself and those around me recently. About 2 weeks ago, my dad went on a business trip to South Korea for a business trip. Although South Korea doesn't share a direct border with China, the threats of the Coronavirus were still prevalent. My father had to take extra precautions in the airports, spending extra money so he could be able to take a screening before going on the plane back to the united states to make sure that he was not infected. Another way that it has affected me recently is that for the musical this year (Catch me if you can - come see it this weekend!), we had to order some handheld feather fans for some costumes. However, they were from China, and are still being held in a quarantine plane, and they won’t be arriving to school until this august, much like some of the machinery being quarantined that you mentioned in your post. Although it is not a huge impact, this still did take affect on our budget for the drama department. You also mentioned the affect of the Chinese New Year’s travel on the economy. You said there was an impact on the economy, and I did some research of my own on it. The travel number is usually 3 billion, but it decreased this year. Still, this only enabled the spread of the Coronavirus.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the virus is transmitted through exports out of China, but it seems implausible that that could occur, unless the virus were spread through touch. However, the coronavirus as we know it is transmitted through air, and is a lung virus, which leads me to question whether the spread through exports is even factual or not, if we have proof of something like this. I also liked the mention of the opportunity costs of the airports, and it overall shocked me that a simple virus could cause a country to take drastic measures in order to prevent their entire economy from collapsing, as the virus spread is affecting both the consumers and producers, and is preventing those in China from getting their basic needs.
ReplyDeleteThe coronavirus has lots more impact than just on the human health as you shared. It is crazy to think that this virus has cost people their lives and now is ruining the Chinese economy. Having to spend lots of money on containing and researching the coronavirus and keeping its citizens safe is no easy or cheap feat. The amount that had to be shut down by the Chinese government makes me wonder how they are going to be getting back on their feet. Has there been any exports/imports? How would they be getting back on their feet after the coronavirus had a big downturn on their economy.
ReplyDeleteVery surprising, it was obvious it was a problem in China but 60+ billion dollar problem, i did not know that. However, it could have been something like the flu and since China has such a large population it will spread faster to more people and has a better chance of reaching someone with a weak immune system and killing them. However it is still dangerous and spreading rapidly even to other countries which has pushed TSA to do things like use infrared cameras to see if people are sick and not let them travel.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that the virus can be very easily transmitted in more ways than people think,through exports out of china. I though that there was good amount of information to be able to read, and get a better understanding of the corona virus and how it works. I also found it interesting about how much the corona virus has hurt their economy, because with this outbreak China cant export certain thing sin certain cities, and many many places have to shut down because of it. Overall though I thought this blog covered the topic very well, and stated its facts very well. Also, the infections in the mainland have slowed down, but the corona virus is also being diagnosed in a different way which I thought was very interesting as well. Good read overall!
ReplyDeleteThis made me really consider how not only how many people were affected health-wise in terms of the Coronavirus, but also financially.I found it very interesting that the virus can be very easily transmitted in more ways than people think,through exports out of china. I though that there was good amount of information to be able to read, and get a better understanding of the corona virus and how it works. I also found it interesting about how much the corona virus has hurt their economy, because with this outbreak China cant export certain thing sin certain cities, and many many places have to shut down because of it. Overall though I thought this blog covered the topic very well, and stated its facts very well. Also, the infections in the mainland have slowed down, but the corona virus is also being diagnosed in a different way which I thought was very interesting as well.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea the coronavirus could impact the economy in such a huge way! The fact that this will impact China's economy for years is something I've never thought about. I do agree that China will have a huge decrease in shipments to the U.S. and other countries because of the fear of getting the virus. I know that I personally, and others, have been warned and avoiding ordering things online.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post has a neat little spin on the Coronavirus that I was not expecting to read about. A lot of the facts that you hear about the Coronavirus deal with the numbers that are associated with it. You hear on the news about the currently infected, the infection rate growing, the number of people who got infected within a day, all of the deaths, and all the dangers that it causes to the world. You don't hear how it affects the economy and I think it's super interesting to hear just how much it affects everything in China. Not just peoples health, but the state of the country and its wealth. Knowing that the country is suffering from thousands currently infected, and hundreds to thousands being infected every day, but also having economic issues on top of that, I bet it causes China a lot of stress on their public image and how they are viewed by the public. That's why some people have even started speculating that the numbers China have released for the Coronavirus may be fewer than what they truly are because China wants to look better in the public image. This all relates to the economy and how it's going to affect their people, the country, and the countries that are importing goods to China. If and when we get the Coronavirus cured, they will have to deal with the impacts that it made on their economy.
ReplyDeleteThe impact of the corona virus is fascinating and shocking to hear. In addition to learning about how a certain place can go from high top to rock bottom so quick because of a disease or epidemic like this. In this case I believe that the corona virus is not only impacting china, its impacting the world as well due to trade being stopped possibly due to having the bacteria involving corona virus. In addition, I have learned that it will take a minimum of one year for people to find and get a cure for the corona virus due this being something new and dangerous people are acting fast to look into solutions.
ReplyDeleteWith the virus spreading so much and so rapidly, it is important to keep the economy in shape and in control. However, with the spread continuing, things would not be so great if more and more people started to get it. Eventually I feel like we would be put into a recession due to the virus causing places to close, and doing that would not allow money to come in and out of businesses. This was a great article overall!
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