According to a report released on Monday by the United Nations Conference on Trade, Investment and Development (UNCTAD), the epidemic will cause a recession in some countries and drag global annual growth this year to below 2.5 per cent, the recessionary threshold for the world economy.

The UNCTAD report said that the outbreak would cost developing countries, excluding China, around 220 billion USD. Oil exporting countries would be worst hit, along with other commodity exporters, as well as those with strong trade links with the initially affected economies. 

The UN report further stated that growth decelerations between 0.7 per cent and 0.9 per cent are likely to occur in countries such as Canada, Mexico, and the Central American region, in the Americas; countries deeply inserted in the global value chains of East and South Asia, and countries in the immediacy of the European Union.