New York: Coronavirus is dealing a gut punch to the illegal drug trade, paralysing economies, closing borders and severing supply chains in China that traffickers rely on for the chemicals to make such profitable drugs as methamphetamine and fentanyl.

One of the main suppliers that shut down is in Wuhan, the epicentre of the global outbreak.

A tunnel connecting south San Diego with a warehouse in Tijuana that was uncovered by the US Border Patrol's San Diego Tunnel Team last month. Credit:AP

Interviews with nearly two dozen law enforcement officials and trafficking experts show Mexican and Colombian cartels are still plying their trade as evidenced by recent drug seizures but the lockdowns that have turned cities into ghost towns are disrupting everything from production to transport to sales.

Along the 3140-kilometre United States-Mexico border through which the vast majority of the illegal drugs cross into the US, the normally bustling vehicle traffic that smugglers use for cover has slowed to a trickle. Bars, nightclubs and motels across the country that are ordinarily fertile marketplaces for drug dealers have shuttered. And prices for drugs in short supply have soared to gouging levels.