Originally published on January 23, 2020
By Mo Ji
The Wuhan coronavirus is spreading across China, causing disruption, severe illness and even death. In addition to the tragic human cost of an epidemic, widespread disease can cause meaningful macroeconomic damage.
The historical contagion patterns and economic costs of similar infectious diseases allow us to estimate the potential impact of the Wuhan coronavirus on China's GDP growth.
An Emerging Epidemic
As of January 22, there are more than 500 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, across China, and that figure has been rising rapidly.