this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. counting the cost of coronavirus — could the growing outbreak now lead to a global recession? we take a look. and china's efforts to contain the virus hit manufacturing in the workshop of the world. indian firms begin to run low on key imports. and, thanks to promises of support from japan's central bank, asian financial markets have seen some relief but more than $5 trillion was wiped off global stocks just last week.

share prices in asia have reversed early losses after japan's central bank promised to support markets in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. the virus is continuing to spread across the world, with the total number of cases now close to 90,000 and the economic impact is growing. factory activity in china fell at a record rate in february, as manufacturers closed their operations to contain the virus. china's official measure of manufacturing activity the purchasing manager's index, dropped to 35.7 from 50 injanuary — that's their worst on record. china makes up more than a quarter of world

manufacturing and is the world's largest exporter, so this drop will have a knock—on effect on well—known brands including apple, diageo and volkswagen. and that's got markets spooked. last friday, the three main us indexes ended the week down 10% — their worst week since the global financial crisis. the uk's ftse 100 index meanwhile dropped 13% over the week, wiping a combined £210 billion, or $269 billion, off the value of some of the world's biggest companies. and here's how the asian markets have been performing today. we have seen some relief, as i mentioned but it is not across the board. let's now go to the asia business hub to get the latest. and sharon is a cross

it for all of us, give us more detail how this is able to boost sentiment, the comments from japan? boost sentiment, the comments from japan? absolutely sally and you summed it all up. what and you summed it all up. what a difference a week and makes! we saw the asian market starting off reflecting a massive sell—off last week in the us and europe which are illustrated as well but by mid—morning it all started to change here, the hong kong index and chinese markets were all flat to hire and the nikkei reversing some of the steeper declines and despite the awful news that you mentioned of the factory output in china, which isa factory output in china, which is a key gauge of activity, falling at its masters pace on record in february, essentially showing that chinese economy is really suffering. this is the world ‘s second largest of course and it is dealing a severe blow to factories across asia, including japan, south

korea, taiwan, really showing evidence yet of the damaging effects of the epidemic on the global business and yet markets are rebounding. why, you may ask? because there are hopes that central banks around the world may come to the rescue and stabilise the global sell—off and this is after the bank ofjapan sell—off and this is after the bank of japan moved sell—off and this is after the bank ofjapan moved to take effo rts bank ofjapan moved to take efforts to try and stabilise the market and we saw the central bank making a rare statement, something it often does not do, think they would strive to provide ample liquidity and ensure stability in financial markets and that of course after the massive sell—off that you were just telling us about. the federal reserve on friday said something similar. they hinted ata something similar. they hinted at a fresh interest rate cuts at a fresh interest rate cuts at the ranks next meeting but of course all of this is still up of course all of this is still up in the air. we are seeing markets reversing that analysts are still warning of further turmoil on trading floors as governments struggle to contain

the coronavirus, which is now killed more than 3000 and infected am almost 19,000. 0k, thank you. joining me now is markus kuger, chief economist at dun & bradstreet. you are listening to that in watching markets and watching economic data closely, what do you think? there are obviously two transmission channels and how it can impact, and the company has analysed that and 5 million companies around the globe sourced directly from china and currently trying to include data from south korea, which saw some falls last weekend as well is italy so thatis weekend as well is italy so that is a severe risk for the economy but that is the macroeconomic component, china accou nts macroeconomic component, china accounts for 20% of gdp and the could be severe knock—on effects for those economies. when you say severe, do you think we could see a global recession, how severe are we talking about? certainly some

economies more exposed than others. we have to remember that the crisis comes at a time when global gdp growth has already been week injapan, italy, gdp fell in the last quarter and that has nothing to do with coronavirus so without more monetary stimulus or fiscal stimulus, there is a set —at fiscal stimulus, there is a set — at risk that some countries authentic recession. italy announced on sunday that 3.6 billion euros in stimulus for those companies in the areas affected in northern italy. we are hearing from japan's central bank that the fed is implying it is ready to help. how some of these countries going to afford to pay for this? big question, italy's government deficit has really been very high and the proposed measures are very small in size, so questionable whether that will be enough help those economies in the north of the country. from a monetary point of view, we also have to keep in mind that interest rates are really rock bottom and have been rock bottom so this transmission channel is questionable. i went about the

fear factor, everyone is talking about it everywhere in the world. for this impact decisions on holidaying and what they may do, some people are stockpiling all sorts of things are going on depending on where you are and how exposed you. what impact could that have? 0n economic activity? sentiment is a key driver and we've seen the pmi from china and waiting on data from china and waiting on data from north america but if sentiment is hit by the crisis andi sentiment is hit by the crisis and i expect this hit, then private consumption could fall and that would impact on the economy. thank you for your time, we appreciate it, and lots more detail and advice on the website. take a look. china is india's second largest trading partner and, with billions of dollars' worth of trade every year, india has become heavily dependent on its asian partner. however, as we've been hearing, the coronavirus outbreak is beginning to cause major

disruption to supply chains and nowhere more so than in india as the bbc‘s devina gupta has been finding out. for the past two years, this television factory in a western state has applied new generation televisions to global brands across india. they make 80,000 led tv sets every month. the glass panel and electronic chips used for it are not available in india, so they are heavily dependent on china to import them. but with the coronavirus outbreak, factories there are shot. that has put 23—year—old who manages the plant in a tough spot. already, 60— 70% components we are using we are highly dependent on china so the glass has already been increased so for the next quarter, they are definitely short in supply and

at least 15% will stop for retailers. china exports over $50 billion worth of goods to india and while most of it is ready made product, there are crucial, raw materials used by farming and auto industries that will be a source of worry. while big traders do have some inventory to tie over, the next two to three months is a small trade as small traders are struggling to meet the orders. for now, many businesses are having to look for suppliers outside of china. taiwan, south korea and japan have some electronic chip dealers who can help us but coronavirus is spreading there also so it is better to get supply from there as soon as better to get supply from there as soon as possible. but not eve ryo ne as soon as possible. but not everyone can afford it and some, like this factory have cut production by half as they run out of key chemical ingredients imported from

china. we are paying twice for the raw material but because of the raw material but because of the price on medicines we cannot raise the cost for the consumers that we have cut production and in the coming time it will hurt the labour force as well. job losses in these small enterprises will further hurt the internet economy, facing a slowdown. china is getting its factories back to work but for customers like this, the shortage of materials will take weeks to clear. now let's brief you on some other business stories: a hundred british negotiators are travelling to brussels to begin talks about a new trade deal with the eu. the first phase of discussions, due to last four days, will be led by the prime minister's europe advisor, david frost. they'll also cover areas such as co—operation on security and transport. elsewhere, the uk's prime minister boris johnson has promised to "drive a hard bargain" as he set out the uk's negotiating position for a post—brexit free trade

deal with the us. talks on a deal are expected to begin later this month with healthcare and food standards set to be among the key issues discussed. that's it for the business briefing this hour. we will stay with more of those stories such as coronavirus in a moment. the south wales valleys could see as much as 50% more rainfall in the next ten years, with weather experts warning that the devastation caused by storm dennis is a "taste of things to come". wyre davies reports. the floods that tore through

these communities have left devastation in their wake and residence driven from homes. a man in his 90s rescued by stretcher on his birthday. a young woman almost drowned in her bed by rising water levels. people are shellshocked. i'm surprised that everybody survived. the water came in so quick and people were surprised to quickly, people could have drowned. lives and livelihoods we re drowned. lives and livelihoods were completely overwhelmed as the river taff burst its banks and rising waters at this car showroom meant that hundreds of vehicles were written off. businesses like this furniture store were cleaned out. this will cost thousands to replace and unlike some big stores, they are not covered. the council is giving flooded businesses £1000 each to get them back on their feet and the welsh government has promised £10 million towards emergency help but it is nowhere near enough. lives have been turned

upside down in communities like this. the human cost is clear but it could cost hundreds of millions of pounds to clear up and repair the damage to homes, businesses and communities. but there were warnings that this was not going to be a 1—off and this is the shape of things to come. as a cleanup continues, the welsh government says addressing the issues around climate change is a priority. the warning signs are there. more rainfall and flooding is inevitable. how will we deal with it when the next deluge comes? coming up at six o'clock on breakfast, dan walker and louise minchin will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: scientists in the united states say the covid—19 virus may have been spreading undetected in washington state for six weeks, infecting hundreds of people. one man is now confirmed

to have died from the virus in the us. pete buttigieg — the first openly gay us presidential candidate — has ended his bid for the white house. his decision to drop out comes just ahead of what's known as super tuesday, when 1a states hold primaries. several thousand migrants are demanding to be allowed to cross into greece, after turkey announced it would no longer stop people trying to enter the european union. greece has called an extraordinary meeting of eu foreign ministers. your people use now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the times looking ahead to the emergency coronavirus meeting being held by the government here in london later. it quotes borisjohnson saying they'll stop at nothing to stem the spread of the virus and reports that a lockdown on whole cities hasn't been ruled out. the financial times looks at italy and how it's injecting $3.6

billion dollars into its economy to mitigate the fallout from it becoming europe's hotbed for the virus. die welt now and like all the german media, its main story is the thousands of migrants gathering on turkey—greece border after turkey's president said he'd open the gates to the eu. pete buttigieg bowing out is a big story for business insider — it quotes the democrat who'd hoped to become his party's pick to take on donald trump — saying he'd made history. and finally, the i looks at wellbeing in the workplace, say more and more companies are offering wellness packages. so within thejob ad, offering wellness packages. so within the job ad, it is becoming more of a discussion point. with me is 0liver cornock who's editor—in—chief, 0xford business group. let's get stuck in. most of the front pages in the uk and i imagine elsewhere in the world

have coronavirus front—end