Australia's $500billion export industry feels the strain of the coronavirus as supply chains slow down while Scott Morrison warns Australia's trade with China will be 'disrupted'
Deloitte Access Economics is forecasting a $5.9billion hit to Australia's economy
It predicted coronavirus would be even worse than bushfires in first half of 2020
The forecasting also modelled a $1.8billion reduction in government revenue
Australia's key export industries are set to suffer as the coronavirus worsens.
The flu-like illness is likely to wipe $5.9billion from the economy in the first half of 2020 as China, Australia's biggest trading partner, buys less iron ore, coal and university education, modelling by Deloitte Access Economics shows.
It is also forecast a $1.8billion hit to Australian government revenue during the same time frame, as company tax payments fell.
Australia's total exports were last year worth $493billion with China making up one third of that, officials figures showed.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the 'supply chain of things that come out of China is being disrupted'.
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Australia's key export industries are set to suffer as the coronavirus worsens. The flu-like illness is likely to wipe $5.9billion from the economy in the first half of 2020 as China, Australia's biggest trading partner, buys less iron ore, coal and university education, modelling by Deloitte Access Economics shows. Pictured is a coal loader at Gladstone in Queensland
'We're not immune. The rest of the world is dealing with the same thing in terms of these economic impacts, and Australia is no different to that,' he told the Today show on Friday morning.
'We are very mindful of that and that's why we're crafting some responses to that.'
Deloitte Access Economics partner Nicki Hutley, an economist, said the coronavirus was likely to be even worse for the economy than the summer bushfires, mainly because of Australia's exposure to China.
'Certain businesses are not operating because of the coronavirus,' she told Daily Mail Australia on Friday.
'We're not getting things transferred through the docks.
'That's going to have an impact the longer that goes on.'
The coronavirus and the bushfires are also set to deny Australia a budget surplus in 2020.
'We won't be back in the black unfortunately,' Ms Hutley said.
Deloitte Access Economics partner Nicki Hutley, an economist, said the coronavirus was likely to be even worse for the economy than the summer bushfires, mainly because of Australia's exposure to China. Pictured are people in Beijing
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's budget, unveiled in April last year, promised a $7.1billion surplus for 2019-20, which if delivered would have been the first in the black since 2007.
The Treasury's Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook in December reduced that to $5billion, before the summer bushfires worsened and Chinese authorities announced the first cases of coronavirus in Wuhan.
Mr Morrison declined to criticise the World Health Organisation, which is yet to describe coronavirus as a likely pandemic.
The COVID-19 coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people worldwide since it originated in December at an animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
That included 23 people in Australia.
Another eight Australians had been flown from the Diamond Princess cruise ship at Yokohama in Japan to a Howard Springs quarantine centre near Darwin, where they tested positive.
CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 23
NEW SOUTH WALES: 4
January 25
Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China contracted the disease.
Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.
They were treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital
January 27
A 21-year-old woman is identified as the fourth person to test positive for the illness in NSW.
The woman, a student at UNSW, flew into Sydney International Airport on flight MU749 on January 23 and presented to the emergency department 24 hours later after developing flu-like symptoms.
VICTORIA: 7
January 25
A Chinese national aged in his 50s becomes the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Australia.
The man flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.
He was quarantined at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne's east.
January 29
A Victorian man in his 60s is diagnosed with the coronavirus.
He became unwell on January 23 - two days after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
The man was confirmed as positive on January 29 and was subsequently seen by doctors at the Monash Medical Centre.
January 30
A woman in her 40s is found to have coronavirus.
She was visiting from China and mostly spent time with her family.
She is being treated at Royal Melbourne Hospital.
February 1
A woman in her 20s in Melbourne is found to have the virus
February 22
Two passengers taken off the Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive
February 25
Third passenger taken off the cruise ship tests positive
QUEENSLAND: 8
January 29
Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national was diagnosed with the virus. He is being treated at Gold Coast University Hospital.
January 30
A 42-year-old Chinese woman who was travelling in the same Wuhan tour group as the 44-year-old man tests positive. She is in Gold Coast University Hospital in stable condition.
February 4
An eight-year-old boy was diagnosed with coronavirus. He is also from the tour group where the other Queensland cases came from
February 5
A 37-year-old man, who was a member of a group of nine Chinese tourists in quarantine on the Gold Coast, also tested positive
February 6
A 37-year-old woman was diagnosed with coronavirus from the same travel group that flew to Queensland from Melbourne on January 27
February 21
Two Queensland women, aged 54 and 55, tested positive for COVID-19 and will be flown to Brisbane for further treatment.
A 57-year-old woman from Queensland also tested positive for the virus
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 3
February 1
A Chinese couple in their 60s who arrived in Adelaide from Wuhan to visit relatives are confirmed to have coronavirus.
A 24-year-old woman from South Australia was transferred to Royal Adelaide Hospital
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: 1
February 21
A 78-year-old man from Western Australia was transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth. On February 28, he was taken into intensive care in a 'serious' condition
DIAMOND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP: 8
Of the 23 overall cases in Australia, eight contracted the disease on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which had gone into quarantine in the Japanese port of Yokohama
They tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving at the Manigurr-ma Village Howard Springs facility in Darwin, and are now being treated in their home states
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison fears coronavirus will disrupt Australia's supply chain to China
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