BEIJING - When cameraman Mark Xia returned to his job this month after holidays, the Shanghai video production house where he worked told him to take three months of leave with no pay, as a coronavirus epidemic takes a toll of China's businesses.
Xia is one of many losing their jobs in the epidemic, which has killed nearly 1,870 and infected more than 72,000, sparking strict travel and movement curbs that have kept many businesses shut, disrupting demand and supply for goods and services. A third said they could last for two months, while 18% said they could stick it out for three months."I think it's more appropriate to compare the current impact to the global crisis, instead of that of SARS," he added, referring to the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002 and 2003.During the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, about 20 million Chinese migrant workers lost their jobs as exports tumbled.
Before the virus outbreak, unemployment had already risen, with the official survey-based jobless rate standing at 5.2% in December, up from 4.9% in April 2018 as a trade war with the United States pinched firms.
'Covid-19,....causes only mild disease in four out of five people who get it,' . .