Canberra's Chinese restaurants have felt the pinch of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Friday lunch rush in Dickson's Woolley Street, Canberra's Chinatown, was subdued across Chinese restaurants.
It comes as the federal government has extended the China travel ban by another week, a move that business owners have said will further damage the bottom line.
Foreign nationals from mainland China have been barred from entering Australia since February 1.
Linda Lau of Jimmy's Place in Dickson said in 18 years of trade this had been the "worst time" and there had been a 30 per cent decline in business.
Ms Lau said the decline had been from Chinese customers and the travel ban had played a significant role. She had not noticed a drop in other nationalities.
Many of the regular customers at Jimmy's Place were students, who were stuck in China and unable to travel back to Australia.
Also, Chinese nationals in Canberra had normally brought family and friends from overseas to the restaurant, particularly over the summer period and Lunar New Year but that did not happen this year due to the outbreak.
Ms Lau compared the coronavirus to the 2003 pandemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Sydrome (SARS) where she said it was business as usual.
That epidemic had started in November, which meant many Chinese nationals had not travelled abroad over the summer period, Ms Lau said.
The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 did also not see a decline in business.
Since the coronavirus broke out, staff at Jimmy's Place had their shifts cut due to the drop in business.
"Hopefully this will pass quickly otherwise it will kill business," Ms Lau said.
Hopefully this will pass quickly otherwise it will kill business.
Linda Lau of Jimmy's Place
Another business owner, who did not wish to give her name, said she had already been forced to close her restaurant for a week due to a drop in trade.
She said the decline was from Chinese customers who she described as being more wary than Australians. Australians had still frequented her restaurant, she said.
At Ruby's Chinese Restaurant they have been forced to slash the price of lobsters and mud crabs.
The booking diary was full of blank pages and while many regular customers had returned from mainland China they were still in the 14-day self-isolation period.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr warned of the economic consequences of the coronavirus when he delivered his mid-year budget review on Thursday.
Mr Barr said the coronavirus outbreak would affect two of the territory's major sectors - international education and tourism.
At this stage, there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the ACT.
Fifty people have tested negative for the virus.
