Melbourne, Feb 18 (AFP/APP): Normally bustling century-old Chinatowns from Melbourne to San Francisco have fallen quiet and businesses are struggling to survive as fears over the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak ripple around the world. “Scaremongering is rampant” complains Max Huang, owner of the Juicy Bao restaurant in Melbourne’s historic Chinese district. “Customers won’t come in if they can avoid it.” Huang’s eatery sits among dozens of restaurants making up Australia’s oldest Chinatown enclave, dating back to the influx of fortune-seekers during an 1850s gold rush. Although the epicentre of the COVID-19 epidemic is more than a ten-hour-flight way, and Australia has seen just a handful of cases, the stigma of a disease that has claimed more than 1,500 lives is pervasive. Streets are notably quieter, facemasks are a commonplace and even a Lunar New Year dragon dance failed to bring in the usual crowds. Businesses report their earnings have dropped by more than half and they have been forced to cut staff hours dramatically, a situation echoed in Chinatowns across the world. At the usually buzzing Empire Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver’s Richmond suburb, getting a table is now a breeze. “Usually we’d have a large line-up time of approximately five-ten … Continue reading Chinatowns feel brunt of virus panic