Beijing auto show delayed by coronavirus as some automakers resume production

BEIJING — Organizers of the Beijing Motor Show, which is scheduled to be held in late April, said on Monday the event will be delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Across mainland China, officials said the total number of coronavirus cases rose by 2,048 to 70,548, with 1,770 deaths.

The Chinese Grand Prix, which was also scheduled for April, will also be postponed, Formula One officials announced last week. A new date, or whether the race will remain on the calendar at all, has not been announced.

Meanwhile, automakers are reopening factories in China that were idled by anti-virus controls as they try to reverse a sales slump in their biggest market. Auto sales in China were down by 18% last month, due in part to the outbreak.

Local officials have orders from the ruling Communist Party to get businesses functioning again while still enforcing anti-disease curbs that shut down much of the world’s second-largest economy.

“Local governments are putting their full weight behind helping businesses open,” the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, Ker Gibbs, said in a statement.

Toyota Motor Co. said two factories reopened Monday with one of the usual two daily shifts working. Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor Co., Mercedes Benz and Chinese brand Geely resumed some operations last week. General Motors Co. said a “staggered start” across its factories began Saturday. Nissan Motor Co. plans to restart this week.

Automakers say they are checking employees for the virus's telltale fever, barring visitors and telling employees to stay home if they have been in Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, or other areas that have imposed travel curbs.

The government has told employees who can work from home to stay there, but China’s vast manufacturing industries that supply the world with smartphones, toys and other goods need workers in factories.

Obstacles include a requirement for workers who return from other areas — as millions are doing after the holiday — to make sure they are virus-free by staying at home for its 14-day incubation period.