On February 18, Apple warned investors that it won't meet its second-quarter financial guidance because the viral outbreak in China has cut production of iPhones. Photo / AP
Chinese factory activity nosedived last month, at a faster pace than during the financial crisis, underscoring the havoc wreaked by the coronavirus on the world's second-biggest economy.
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China's purchasing managers' index fell to a record low of 35.7
in February from 50 in January - below the 46 reading expected by economists, a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of China showed. A number above 50 indicates expansion and below 50 contraction.
The readings provide the first opportunity to take the temperature of the Chinese economy since the outbreak of Covid-19, which has killed almost 3,000 people in mainland China and infected about 80,000. The number of new cases has been falling in the past 10 days.
Despite President Xi Jinping's diktat last weekend that less exposed regions should "resume full production and normal life", officials are balancing the needs to contain the outbreak and reboot the paralysed economy.
