APD | Japanese firms halt operations in China due to virus outbreak

By APD writer Alice

Japanese companies have announced to halt part of their business activities in China due to the ongoing outbreak of a new coronavirus called nCoV.

Nissan Motor Co. delayed its planned restart of factories and Japanese airlines suspending more flights from late January.

Of the four Nissan factories in China, one in Hubei in the central part of the country will restart operations sometime after Feb. 14, while the other three in different areas will resume after February 10, the company said.

The automaker had planned to keep plants closed until February 11.

Nissan's operations in China had been suspended from the Lunar New Year holiday through late January. The suspension continued to be extended due to the spread of the virus originating in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

Following Nissan's move, many other Japanese automakers with a foothold in China decided to postpone the restart of operations after the Lunar New Year holiday.

Toyota Motor Corp. said it would delay the restart of four auto plants in China until sometime after February 10, rather than early February as originally scheduled.

Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co. also decided to push back the reopening of its auto plants in Wuhan, motorcycle production bases in the suburbs of Shanghai and Tianjin, as well as auto and motorcycle factories in Guangzhou.

Japan Airlines Co. and All Nippon Airways Co. will suspend flights including those between Narita airport near Tokyo and Beijing through the end of March.

By February 7 morning, the number of people infected with the acute respiratory disease caused by nCoV had reached over 31,000 in China, with the death toll increasing to 638 on the mainland, according to the country's health authorities.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)