The coronavirus is China’s biggest test since Tiananmen Square

Over 1,500 Chinese have died from the coronavirus, with tens of millions quarantined in their own homes. President Xi is keeping a low profile, mindful of the political dangers should China’s authorities fail to contain this killer bug.

In the UK, nine people have been diagnosed with the virus, including two GPs. Several public buildings have been closed – including schools, medical centre and an old-age care home – with Health Secretary Matt Hancock warning of a ‘serious and imminent threat’.

Amid fears of the human fall out from what the World Health Organisation has classified as Covid-19, concerns are growing, also, about the economic and financial impact of this virus – in China and beyond.

When severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) broke out in southern China in 2003, the People’s Republic accounted for just 5 per cent of the world economy. The coronavirus death toll has already outstripped Sars – and now China, accounting for 20 per cent of world GDP, is pivotal to global growth.