China counts economic cost of virus as markets plunge, death toll up

This photo taken on February 1, 2020 shows delivery men wearing protective face masks at a compound with a banner reminding people to wear masks and wash hands in Beijing. - Communities in China are offering cash rewards, knocking on doors and questioning people trying to enter their neighbourhoods -- but they're not looking for criminals -- they're looking for anyone coming from Wuhan, the central city at the epicentre of the deadly virus epidemic. (Photo by NOEL CELIS / AFP) / TO GO WITH China-health-virus-security,FOCUS by Eva Xiao, Jing Xuan Teng and Beiyi Seow

BEIJING/SHANGHAI: Investors worried about the spread of the coronavirus wiped more than US$400 billion off the value of China's stocks in the first trading session on Monday after an extended Lunar New Year break while the death toll from the epidemic rose to 361.

Markets plunged at the open in their first session since Jan. 23, when the outbreak of the newly identified virus had claimed only 17 lives in Wuhan city, the epicentre of the outbreak, in the central province of Hubei.