Employers are already feeling the knock-on effects of coronavirus, with City businesses sending staff home, bans on business travel and companies referring to sickness policies to ensure they’ll be ok if the situation worsens.

Here are five important questions about coronavirus and the workplace answered:

An economic depression is an occurrence wherein an economy is in a state of financial turmoil, often the result of a period of negative activity based on the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate. It is a lot worse than a recession, with GDP falling significantly, and usually lasts for many years. In the US, the Great Depression lasted for a decade, with the unemployment rate reaching 25% and wages falling by 42%.