Coronavirus delays Nintendo Switch production, shipments

The deadly coronavirus outbreak in China has delayed the production and shipments of Nintendo's Switch console to its home market in Japan.

Due to the outbreak, Japanese preorders have been pushed back from February 8 to an undetermined date.

"We can confirm that the manufacturing of some Nintendo products for the Japanese market has been delayed due to the impact coronavirus outbreak," Engadget quoted the company on Thursday.

Earlier, Nintendo began moving part of its production to Vietnam from China in 2019 as supply chains were hit by the Sino-US trade war, but it was not enough to counter the impact of the viral outbreak.

"Nintendo does not anticipate a significant impact on our broader global supply chain for systems and accessories at this time, and product sales in North America and Europe, including pre-orders, are not affected. We would like to express our concern and support for all those affected by the coronavirus during this challenging time," the company added.

The death toll due to the fast-spreading novel coronavirus outbreak in China has increased to 636, authorities said on Friday, while the number of confirmed cases also rose to 31,161.

Chinese health authorities said it received reports of 3,143 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 73 deaths on Thursday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 69 were in Hubei Province, one in Jilin, one in Henan, one in Guangdong and one in Hainan, according to China's National Health Commission, Xinhua reported.

Another 4,833 new suspected cases were reported on Thursday, said the commission.

Also on Thursday, 962 patients became seriously ill, and 387 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.-IANS