The novel coronavirus pneumonia (Covid-19) outbreak that began in Wuhan, in Hubei province, China has quickly spread to at least 75 other countries, causing more than 3,000 deaths.

China’s subsequent imposition of restrictions on movement both within and outside its borders has been effective in containment: official Chinese data shows new confirmed cases dropped to 129 in China and only 4 outside of Hubei on March 4. However, rise in the Covid-19 cases across the world increases the risk of disrupting the global food trade system.

Global outbreaks like Ebola, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) all had negative impacts on food and nutrition security – particularly for vulnerable populations including children, women, the elderly, and the poor.

For example, when Ebola began to hit Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in 2014, domestic rice prices increased by over 30 per cent; the price of cassava, a major staple in Liberia, shot up by 150 per cent. In 2003, the SARS outbreak triggered food market panics in Chinese cities of Guangdong and Zhejiang.