An outbreak of avian influenza among people may cost China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, as much as US$87 billion, according to a study by the Asian Development Bank.
China, the second-biggest poultry-producing country, last week confirmed its first human fatalities from the H5N1 strain of bird flu. The disease, which has killed at least 67 people across Asia since December 2003, has caused farmers and animal health officials to slaughter more than 21 million birds in China this year.
Health authorities say human cases will climb as new outbreaks are reported among the country's 14.2 billion birds.
Human infections heighten concerns that the virus may mutate into a strain more easily passed between humans, leading to a pandemic that may kill millions.
"We need to be clear we're nowhere near a pandemic level, but we need to prepare and take precautionary measures," Asian Development Bank economist Chris Spohr said at a seminar sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.
The bank estimates the cost of any pandemic to China's economy at between US$28 billion and US$87 billion. That equates to between 1.7 percent and 5.3 percent of the country's GDP.
The cost of any pandemic on the economies in Asia outside Japan may range from US$113 billion to US$300 billion, depending on when health officials are able to contain the virus and how quickly investors are able to recover from the psychological shock.
As many as three-quarters of multinational companies are concerned about avian flu and have taken precautionary measures, including formulating crisis management plans, said Christian van der Walt, director of the International Medical SOS for the China region, citing a Sept. 20 survey conducted by the medical company.
"If bird flu were to reach epidemic levels, up to 20 percent of your workforce could be gone at any one time because they are sick or need to take care of family members," Van Der Walt said at the seminar.
Bird flu has infected at least 130 people in China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, the World Health Organization (WHO) said last Thursday. North Korea intensified quarantine controls and surveillance at borders, airports and port terminals, the official North Korean news agency said in a report yesterday, citing Kim Hyong-chol, a quarantine official.
"There is no need to panic," Henk Bekedam, the WHO's representative in China, said at the seminar in Beijing.
"The current virus is not easily transferable among humans, but we need to get ready. We have some time, but the time to get ready is now," he said.
Every company should begin forming crisis management committees and appoint a senior executive as the spokesman for the company during a crisis, said Scott Kronick, president of public relations firm Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in China, which is assisting companies with their emergency response plans.
The business community needs to be aware of the risks of avian flu and needs more information on how to prepare for any outbreak in China's cities, said American Chamber of Commerce chairman Emory Williams.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$10.26 billion to finance the construction of its second fab in Kumamoto, Japan, and a second fab in Arizona, using advanced process technologies. The Department of Investment Review approved TSMC’s investment applications on the basis that Taiwan remains a major technology and manufacturing hub for the chipmaker, which makes its most advanced chips at home, the company operates its research-and-development center here and the majority of its capacity remains in Taiwan. The latest capital injections — US$5.26 billion for its Japanese venture Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing
DIVERSIFYING: Following customers’ demand to improve supply chain resilience, ASE is looking for sites in the US, Japan and Mexico, a company executive said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it plans to launch a new high-end chip testing fab in the US next month to better serve its key customers based in North America, particularly California-based artificial intelligence (AI) customers. The new US testing facility would be operated by the firm’s subsidiary ISE Labs Inc, it said. ASE’s major customers, and high-ranking US officials and representatives from American Institute in Taiwan are to attend the fab’s opening ceremony on July 12, it said. ISE Labs last year acquired a 5,942m2 facility in San
Local companies believe that nearly a third of all job opportunities will vanish in 10 years due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), according to a survey released by online job bank yes123 on Tuesday. In the survey of 1,016 companies on the labor market’s third quarter outlook, the job bank focused in part on AI’s impact on workers and asked companies what percentage of jobs they felt would be lost to AI’s round-the-clock productivity and high-speed computing prowess. Respondents felt on average that 29.2 percent of job opportunities would be lost to AI over the next 10 years, but there
Taiwanese workers earned an average of NT$47,000 per month this year, but 40 percent are struggling financially and 18 percent plan to switch jobs within 12 months, two separate surveys showed yesterday. The amount equals a 5.4 percent increase from a year earlier to a decade high, 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) said. The government is due to review the nation’s minimum wages. Employees at computer and consumer electronics manufacturers reported the highest average monthly wage of NT$60,000 a month, followed by semiconductor firms at NT$59,000, and vendors of shoe and textile products, along with software and Internet businesses at NT$55,000, 104 Job