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| - Given China's economic heft and position in the nexus of global supply chains, the new strain of coronavirus is affecting companies from far and wide in multiple sectors. Here's how some multinational brands are responding to the deadly epidemic, which has forced China to extend its Lunar New Year holidays into next week: The travel sector is most directly affected by China's decision to lock down dozens of cities and ban overseas tour groups, in a bid to contain the outbreak. Other countries have told their nationals to avoid travel to China and banned arrivals from there. Many airlines are trimming their schedules. British Airways, Air Canada and Lufthansa have gone the furthest by cancelling all flights to China. Paris department stores, a de rigueur stop for Chinese tour groups, are unusually quiet. So are casinos in Macau. Disney has shuttered its theme parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong. MSC Cruises, Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean have cancelled stops by their ships in China. Club Med has closed six of its holiday villages in China, keeping open only its Sanya resort on Hainan island. Cinemas around China have been forced to close, during what is meant to be a prime time for blockbuster releases during the holidays. Canada-based Imax Corp. could be deprived of $60-200 million in lost box-office revenues, according to analysts. Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn is keeping its Chinese factories closed until mid-February and will allow local employees to delay their return after the new year break. The move could affect global supply chains for tech companies that rely on Foxconn to manufacture everything from Apple's iPhones to flat-screen TVs and laptops. For its part, Apple is working on "mitigation plans" to make up for any production loss from its suppliers in China. Wuhan, the central Chinese city that is ground zero of the outbreak, is a hub for foreign carmakers. The holidays mean there is no immediate impact on their production, but concerns are growing about the longer-term effects, including on auto suppliers around China. General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Ford Motor have travel restrictions in place for their staff. Some, such as Nissan, have been evacuating staff from Wuhan. PSA, Renault and Honda all say they are monitoring the situation closely. Electric pioneer Tesla, which has just started rolling out cars from a giant new factory in Shanghai, says the virus could delay a planned acceleration of production there, and potentially affect earnings this quarter. Mainland China is the second-biggest market of US coffee chain Starbucks, with more than 4,000 outlets. Half of them have been closed by the outbreak. Fast-food giant McDonald's has closed all of its "several hundred" restaurants in Hubei, the province of Wuhan, but some 3,000 others in China remain open. Other brands such as Pizza Hut and KFC are also suffering closures in Hubei province imposed by their Chinese parent company. In one extraordinary development, 43,000 workers at a Chinese-controlled nickel mining site on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have been quarantined. China is an important market for heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar, which has already suffered from the Sino-US trade war. The company warned of "continued global economic uncertainty" as it issued a pessimistic profit outlook for 2020. Not all companies are suffering. 3M, a leading maker of protective face masks, is cranking up production. And Top Glove, the world's biggest glovemaker, expects sales to increase by about 25 percent as people pay more attention to hygiene, according to Bloomberg News. The server of British games studio Ndemic Creations collapsed last week after a surge in popularity for its title Plague Inc., in which players vie to "bring about the end of human history by evolving a deadly, global plague". Ndemic said it was "a game, not a scientific model" and urged players to seek advice from health authorities rather than to rely on the title for medical information. jit/zak/wai
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