Nestlé, the world’s largest food maker, has issued an update on how it has so far reacted to the coronavirus outbreak in China.

The country is the Swiss food giant’s second-largest market by sales, accounting for more than 7% of the group’s CHF91.44bn (US$93.98bn) sales in 2018. The owner of brands including KitKat chocolate and Gerber baby food has more than 30 factories in the Greater China region.

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Measured until 16:43 GMT today (5 February), there have been 24,630 confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins CSSE. Mainland China has seen 24,405 cases. In total, 494 people have died, with 479 of the fatalities in China’s Hubei province, the centre of the outbreak.

Major multinationals have seen a varied impact on their operations. Ikea, McDonald’s and Starbucks have closed outlets. British Airways and Air France are among the airlines to have suspended flights to parts or all of China. Google is is temporarily closing its offices in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as a result of the outbreak.

Some companies have kept production sites closed since the usual end of the Chinese New Year holiday to assist China in limiting the spread of the coronavirus. The Coca-Cola Co. said last week a “good number” of its China factories were still closed, while Carlsberg CEO Cees ‘t Hart told just-drinks yesterday the brewer is awaiting government permission to reopen breweries.

Speaking to just-food this afternoon, a spokesperson for Nestlé said the company’s “focus has been on ensuring the safety of our people”. The spokesperson said Nestlé had been “putting in place all necessary precautions including enhanced sanitary procedures at our facilities, monitoring for symptoms of illness and advising employees on how to minimise the risk of spreading infection”.

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The spokesperson added: “We have also prohibited all business travel to and from China for our employees worldwide. We continue to follow the advice of public health organisations and have created an internal team to manage this evolving situation. We are also working closely with the authorities in China. During the period of the Chinese New Year, which has been extended by the authorities, our factory operations are limited. We are monitoring the situation and will make adjustments to our operations where necessary.”

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