On Tuesday, the head of a European business group in China warned that the world could face a shortage of antibiotics if the pharmaceutical industry’s supply problems posed by the outbreak of China’s coronavirus cannot soon be resolved.

Joerg Wuttke, President of the EU Chamber of Commerce told a roundtable in Beijing that the synchronization of supplies in China was being hampered by the outbreak; he also highlighted the impact of the coronavirus is having on the car industry, where inventories were surging.

He also noted that companies were running out of packaging material and faced challenges with regulatory uncertainties.