this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. china pumps billions into its economy as fears grow for the business fallout from the corona virus. but chinese markets plunge... the biggest operator of ferries in the irish sea has confirmed to the bbc that there will be checks, inspections and some new infrastructure for trade, and it wants to know what the uk government will pay for. and on the markets, chinese equities plunged almost 9% as nervous traders returned from their extended lunar new year break, hit by fears that the coronavirus, which has killed more people than sars, could hammer the country's economy.

prices of shares in china's biggest companies, as well as many commodities, have dropped sharply as trading resumed after a longer—than—usual lunar new year break, extended because of the coronavirus outbreak. china is to pump 150 billion yuan — that's around $22 billion — into its banking sector today to help protect it from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. let's go to our asia business hub where sharanjit leyl is following the story. a huge amount of money to pump into the system. do we think it's going to have the desired effect? the jury is currently out but as you said, the markets plunging after opening after the global fleet might lunar new year holiday. the

investors in the chinese government and it played it pretty much as expected. the index falling nearly 9% before recovering slightly. commodity prices slumping so we are seeing the likes of manufacturing materials and consumer goods companies among the hardest hit. should add that health care shares have been soaring in the fall came despite as you said the chinese central bank announcing new measures to ease the impact of the outbreak, $22 million into the outbreak, $22 million into the banking sector was in essence aimed at ensuring there was enough liquidity in the banking system, but the central banking system, but the central bank will inject over 170 billion us dollars into the financial system this monday, the largest single day addition on the record, and the majority of it was already planned. among other things, unexpectedly lowering short—term interest rates as pa rt short—term interest rates as part of the attempts to relieve pressure on the economy from that spreading virus. the bank said it would make more cash

available throughout this week which may well be warranted as some have said these steps alone may not be enough. we are seeing global markets being rattled by this epidemic in recent days, the s&p 500 on friday notched up its worst week since last year. chinese financial regulators have forecast the impact on the country's already slowing economy will be short—term, but we know that chinese economic growth in general is slower, about 6.1% last year. that is the slowest in around three decades. thanks very much indeed. as the spread of the new coronavirus in china causes more factory shutdowns, the effect on global industrial supply chains could lingerfor years. global supply chains are considerably more complex than they were in 2003, during the time of the sars outbreak. china's exports have grown enormously since the time of sars. in 2018, china exported $2.49 trillion worth of goods globally. in the city of wuhan —

the epicentre of the outbreak — more than 300 of the world's top 500 companies now have a presence. these include firms like microsoft and siemens, as well as car factories operated by honda, renault, psa and general motors. virtually all of the world's iphones are made in china, mostly by foxconn at sites in zhengzhou and near shanghai. foxconn has said its facilities in china remained closed for public holidays and would remain so until all businesses have resumed standard operating hours. china is the world's largest producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and has 15% of the world's facilities that manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients for 370 essential drugs. china also produces a significant portion of the world's supply of protective gear, such as face masks and respirators.

let's get more on this story with tracey dawson, managing director of daletech electronics, a company that makes circuit boards. joining us from our studio in the north of england, how can what is going on in china affect what your business is doing here in the uk? good morning and thank you for inviting me. we manufacture electronic assemblies for diverse applications. the majority of our components and materials that are used in manufacturing are imported from the far east and china, through uk distribution and direct sourcing. so if there is a delay in getting those over here because the factory is closed for an extended new year holiday, what effect does it have on your business? we were quite surprised that the holidays have been extended and

even more surprised to get an e—mail telling us that the factory supplying materials was in the affected province and therefore in lockdown. we have tried to resource and have been successful to resource materials, but there are massive price implications that have put some business pressure on us. and i suppose there will be some people perhaps watching in the uk saying, you wouldn't have the problem if you source things from within the uk. what do you say to that? the materials that we utilise, you cannot get in the uk. the technology in the far east and china as they are to be used. we don't have any component manufacturers in the uk so we have to source from the far east. so if the circuit boards are not being made, what are the implications for your customers? massive

implications. but we are not looking at it with too much the red at the moment. i think that everything at the moment is under control and we can resource but in the long term if this is not sorted, it will have implications for our customers. thanks very much indeed for speaking to us, really interesting to see how the knock—on effect of this cascades all around the world. briefly now and some of the other main business stories. the us department of homeland security issued rules to implement newrestrictions on americans who have recently visited china to address the threat of the coronavirus. the new rules will mean airlines are expected to scrutinize passports of travelers, and warned the new rules could require passengers to arrive even earlier for us—bound flights. , following new requirements from the united states department of health and human services, us airline delta advances plans to temporarily suspend all us—china flying. it now expects flights between us and china to remain

suspended through april 30. the uk's foreign secretary, dominic raab, has insisted that the uk won't agree to follow eu rules in the upcoming post—brexit trade talks. britain and brussels will both give details later today of what they want from the discussions. the biggest operator of ferries in the irish sea has confirmed that there will be checks, inspections and some new infrastructure for trade, and it wants to know what the uk government will pay for. the plans will affect both trade with the republic of ireland and within the uk between great britain and northern ireland, as a result of brexit. stena line said that its working assumption is that new checks will be carried out in british ports. 0ur economics editor faisal islam sat down with stena lines chief people and communications officer

ian hampton. it does mean a change but i don't think these changes should be viewed to offensively because just like any trading relationship there needs to be checks. the complication in the irish sea is where they put the border. it is now physically a sea border rather than a land border. so just to clarify, there will be new procedures and checks not just there will be new procedures and checks notjust between the united kingdom and the republic but also great britain and northern ireland ? but also great britain and northern ireland? yes, that is as it sits, but let's be future focused. these only come in after the transition period so the 31 january date is just a date. formally when we leave the eu but with the transition period there is no change. so your message to the government is deciding above all that whatever happens there has to bea whatever happens there has to be a cut off by the end of the year. do you urge caution and maybe i rethink? if we don't progress and use this time

wisely then of course we would encourage a rethink. lets not have a date where we fall off the cliff later in the year. so we have the 11 months and i think the government has learned an awful lot by partnering a business. are you preparing that infrastructure right now and how much notice will be required to get that in place if as the government says, we are definitely going to go into notary deal or a trade deal by the end of the year? the final quarter of this year? the final quarter of this year is vital to us. if we know by then we don't have a trade deal and we have to default to maximum checks, as a hypothesis, then temporary infrastructure can be brought into play. you need to have the space to do the necessary checks and be able to house the necessary officials from government to be able to carry out and perform their role to protect the border which is important, an obligation to the state. that's it for the business briefing this

hour. up up next, the news briefing.

this is the briefing from bbc news, the latest headlines. china financial markets have fallen sharply in response to the coronavirus outbreak. the first medical aid flights are set to bring relief to civilians in yemen struggling in a war that has claimed thousands of lives. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the news that a new hospital in wuhan — the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak — will open on monday. the thousand bed facility was built in an astonishing eight days. if you head to the bbc website, you can see the time lapse

video of the construction. city am asks the question, could an australian model be on the table for an eu trade deal? boris johnson will today fire the starting gun on negotiations with the european union. the times, as with a lot of the british papers this morning headlines the attack in london yesterday ‘terror returns' it says. the man shot dead by police was recently released from prison. they waited 50 years, and now kansas city chiefs are the 54th superbowl champions. they beat the san francisco 49ers — 31 points to 20! and the telegraph runs with prince william's swipe at bafta diversity. but it wasn't just prince william that spoke about the need for change — star of thejoker, joaquin phoenix who won best actor award criticised what he said was systemic

racism in the film industry. with me is cornelia meyer — ceo of mrl corporation. good to see you. great to see you again. let's start with this latest on coronavirus. it is amazing to think that a thousand bed facility can go up in eight days. it only in china can you do it, a centralised economy at its best, and when you think about china and see how quickly it came up in shanghai, when i first went there was nothing and then when i went there was nothing and then when iwent in there was nothing and then when i went in the zeros it was there. but part of the problem is also it has been kept quiet for too long and not addressed for too long and not addressed for too long and not addressed for too long, and with these

pandemics, apparently the sooner you get to