China: Hong Kong construction companies have laid off 50,000 workers and reduced the hours of a further 80,000 because of a shortage of cement, with production still suspended in China due to the coronavirus epidemic. New World Construction co-managing director David Kwok Chun-wai said the company’s supply chain had been disrupted, adding, “It is still too early to predict the impact.”

The Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union chairman Wong Ping said, “Workers can nail boards, however without cement, they cannot proceed to laying floors.”