Mink breeders in Denmark called off a fur auction because Chinese buyers can't attend due to travel curbs imposed to contain the disease.
The Singapore Air Show, due to open next week, announced Tuesday it was cancelling a business conference due to the absence of Chinese participants. China already was dealing with the impact of a tariff war with Washington and a separate outbreak of African swine fever that does not infect people but has disrupted pork supplies, causing food prices to soar.
Streets and subways in many cities are still largely empty even after most of China officially returned to work this week. Thousands restaurants and cinemas have been closed to prevent crowds from gathering -- causing Hollywood studios to lose out on Lunar New Year ticket sales, usually a revenue high point for the industry.
This time, even if China recovers quickly, the worldwide impact could be bigger than SARS, since China now accounts for 16.3% of global economic activity, more than triple 2003's share of 4.3%, according to the International Monetary Fund.