On January 23, 2020. Wuhan, central Chinese city, and their surrounding cities like Ezhou, Xiantao, Qianjiang, Huanggang, and Jingmen announced the suspension of almost all their transportation systems. Bus, subway, ferry, train stations, highways were all affected. Airport was temporarily closed, and other exit corridors were done the same.

Well, the cause of this action is not far fetched.  Almost everyone must have heard of the reason by now. Corona Virus! This new Coronavirus, which was first identified in Wuhan, has put all other countries and global health agencies on high alert. This virus has been the reason behind some anxiety being experienced in China, and the rest of the world right now.

Wuhan Coronavirus

Now, going deeper into the world of Wuhan Coronavirus. Colloquially named after the first city where it is believed to have originated. The virus has seemed to be changing rapidly. However, the fact is that its exact source of this virus is yet to be identified, and it is still poorly understood.

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a family of viruses that often cause mild respiratory symptoms like the common cold. That sounds a bit manageable. Yes! But then, some can cause serious illness. Reports have shown that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which jumped from bats to humans in China’s Guangdong Province in 2002, infected more than 8,000 people worldwide and killed at least 774.

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death.

How Bad is Wuhan Coronavirus?

Several reports from the National Health Commission of China and districts’ Health Commission in the last few days have shown series of pneumonia reported cases, with 2005 confirmed cases, suspected cases around 2684, 56 have died, and 49 cured cases.  pneumonia reported cases of 2005

The Economic Effect of Wuhan Coronavirus

As a result of the continuous widespread of this virus, transportations all around the country are shut down partially or completely. This has caused the inability of all workers and employees to go back to factories and companies to work, which has affected operations in most companies.

Well, the implementation of the control of personnel in and out of Wuhan is because the epidemic situation has reached an urgent level, and only by strictly controlling the source of infection can the pandemic be prevented.

Talking about strict controlling, provinces such as Zhejiang, Hubei has announced the highest level of emergency by shutting down most of the public spaces and activities. Schools and institutions are also not left out, as they have announced to postpone school dates.

On Jan. 25th, President Xi announced battle with the new Wuhan Coronavirus, the top thing of the country, and the next day it is reported that the State Council encouraged to extend the Chinese Lunar New Year Holiday which is the best period to prevent the spread of Wuhan Coronavirus.

The Impact of Wuhan Coronavirus on Dropshipping

From all indications, we have seen. It’s a fact that a lot of things have been and will still be affected by this Virus. Unfortunately, one of them (what will be affected) is dropshipping! You might have been thinking of how this coronavirus influence dropshipping.

Stock Fall

Yes!  Apparently, American financial markets are not immune to a new respiratory virus that has spread quickly from China. Stocks have been said to fall on fears that the Coronavirus could take a more significant economic toll than initially expected. The virus has sickened thousands of people and killed more than a hundred.

Absent Workers

In addition to closing many of its borders with China, the city’s government announced that government workers would be encouraged to work from home when the Lunar New Year holiday ends.

The directive, which excluded emergency service workers and people who work for essential public services, urged the private sector to enforce similar arrangements. This means almost all the workers involved in the dropshipping process in China won’t have the chance to go work.

Factories Can’t Produce

The fact is, most suppliers of dropshipping business are from China. As a result of this virus and the compulsory -stay indoor- thing, factories will not be able to produce products at the expected date. Because of this new Wuhan Coronavirus, the majority of workers will not be able to come back to suppliers’ factories to start producing.

The previous holiday plan allows workers to stay at home until February. However, according to the current situation, the return date of workers may be delayed, which means dropshipping will suffer.

Logistics Problems

Say a supplier or suppliers have product stocks available, what about logistics? Logistics companies are also affected by this virus, as most of their workers are at home. With the Government announcement of borders closing and all cities’ transportation systems closed, there’s no way logistics companies could work.

If logistics companies don’t work, then there’s no way parcels and other dropshipping fulfillment products will be shipped out to their various destination.

Most of the suppliers’ facility has been temporarily shut down by the government. Probably you’ve placed orders that ship from China, you should consider bringing down those Ads temporarily, and notification across to your buyers regarding the situation at hand would be a good idea.

There you have it! The rapid changing of Coronavirus has made some things difficult. With all workers at home, transportation systems paralyzed in the provinces, this has invariably affected and will still affect dropshipping business. We can only hope China will overcome this Coronavirus quickly so that everything can recover to normal.

Contact us today at Fulfillman to know more about our services. We specialize in providing excellent Drop Shipping services, Warehouse fulfillment, China sourcing, Third Party Logistics, and many more. Our dedicated experts will be available to speak with you and discuss the options available to you. We guarantee you get quality and excellent services that give complete client satisfaction.