Nintendo says delays to Switch production, shipping due to coronavirus 'unavoidable'

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd said on Thursday delays to production and shipping of its Switch console and peripherals like the Joy-Con controllers to the Japan market due to the coronavirus epidemic were "unavoidable".

Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa said last week that production in China of the popular device was being impacted by the virus.

Nintendo began moving part of its production to Vietnam from China in 2019 as supply chains were hit by the Sino-U.S. trade war, but it does not have enough capacity in the Southeast Asian nation to offset the disruption from the outbreak.

Supply of the Ring Fit Adventure gadget, already hard to find in some countries, is also being affected, Nintendo added.

The death toll from the coronavirus in mainland China jumped by 73 to 563, with total confirmed infections standing at more than 28,000 there, while ten more people on a quarantined cruise liner in Japan have tested positive for the virus.

Health experts have stepped up efforts to find a vaccine for the disease that has provoked fears of a global pandemic.

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Himani Sarkar)