Now, they confront life without those items. Major airlines in the United States and Europe are halting their cargo and passenger flights to China for up to two months. Recent visitors to the country are barred from entering the United States. After four decades of growing integration with the rest of the world, China almost overnight has become an economic island. Its temporary isolation — no one knows for how long — will hurt companies that depend upon Chinese inputs as well as those that sell to Chinese customers.
Consumer electronics makers are among the most vulnerable, because many game consoles, smartphones and tablets are made in China. On Saturday, Apple announced that it had closed all of its corporate offices and retail stores in China — where it booked $44 billion in sales last year — until Feb. 9 because of the virus.