Apple warns virus will hurt revenue
Apple on Monday warned that it expects to fall short of revenue goals in the current quarter, underscoring the far-reaching effects of the public health crisis on the global economy. In a statement to investors, Apple said that while factories in China were reopening, iPhone production in the country was ramping up more slowly than expected. Demand for Apple products has also dampened in China, where all the company's stores and many of its partner stores have temporarily shuttered.
Communist Party may delay meeting
China signaled that it would postpone its most important political spectacle of the year, a sign of deepening anxiety within the ruling Communist Party about the threat posed by the virus epidemic. Chinese officials said the annual fall meeting of the National People's Congress, which typically takes place in early March, could be delayed because of the outbreak.
School classes in China are now online
Nearly 200 million kids across China started their second semester on Monday. But it was a school day unlike anything they had before the Lunar New Year holiday. Most Chinese schools had been due to resume classes but have instead moved to some kind of online or home learning system, straining the resources of teachers, the attention of kids and the patience of parents.
China says 80% of cases have been mild
Health officials in China have published the first details on nearly 45,000 cases of the novel coronavirus that originated there, saying more than 80% have been mild and new ones seem to be falling since early this month, although it's far too soon to tell whether the outbreak has peaked.
Virus conspiracy theory is debunked
A conspiracy theory on how the virus got its start lacks evidence and has been dismissed by scientists. But it has gained an audience with the help of well-connected critics of the Chinese government such as former Trump strategist Steve Bannon. And Sunday, it got its biggest public boost yet. Speaking on Fox News, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., raised the possibility that the virus had originated in a high-security biochemical lab in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak.
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