BEIJING - It's the eve of Valentine's Day and flower seller Cai Xiaoman is enclosing a special gift - a small bottle of hand sanitiser to ward off coronavirus - as she sends out her last few bouquets to customers in Beijing.

It has been a tough month for her. Sales are down 90 per cent in the midst of an outbreak that has so far killed nearly 1,400 people in China. People are staying at home, leaving shopping malls empty.