Chinese local governments and departments are currently mobilizing enterprises to resume operation in a bid to suit production to demand, as it calls for not only prevention and control, but also development to defeat the novel coronavirus epidemic.
Many enterprises, responding to the call of the nation, have resumed production in an orderly manner, providing better guarantee for the prevention and control of the epidemic, and maintaining normal order of the economy and the society.
Chen Da, deputy director of the Department of Trade at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China told a press conference on Feb. 9 that work resumption is taking place across China except for Hubei Province, the hardest-hit region. By Feb. 7, about 73 percent of the country’s mask production capacity had been recovered, and about 94.6 percent of the country’s major grain production and processing firms have resumed production, Chen introduced. The supply of natural gas, electricity and refined oil is sufficient, and the civil aviation, railway and water transportation sectors are on normal operation.
Impacted by the epidemic, many enterprises are facing insufficient labor, capital and raw materials. On Feb. 9, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice, unveiling a string of 20 measures to help companies resume production in an orderly manner and get through the difficulty, such as enhancing the guarantee for work resumption elements and intensifying credit support.
Besides, local governments in Zhejiang, Liaoning, Jiangsu and Guangdong have already issued relevant measures to help enterprises solve practical problems.
“Every infrared thermometer we produce represents our contribution, and we must race against the epidemic and finally help our country defeat it,” said the chairman of board Liu Yi of Andon Health Co., Ltd., a producer of electronical thermometers based in Tianjin, in a recent speech mobilizing its employees to go to the production front.
Learning the severe shortage of disinfectants, chairman of board Yang Le of Anhui Jinhe Industrial Co., Ltd. immediately informed the company’s production, supply and storage departments to load and send disinfectants to Hubei to support the province.
Masks, goggles, and disinfectants are all important materials for epidemic prevention and control. To guarantee supply, many enterprises had resumed production in advance during the Chinese New Year holiday.
The country has also made targeted arrangement from fiscal and finance perspective. It is reported that the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) for the first time jointly adopted the policy of special refinancing and government-funded interest subsidies, so as to give more credit support to key companies in epidemic control to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. The 300-billion-yuan ($42.9 billion) special refinancing loans allocated by the PBOC, together with the government-funded interest subsidies, will lower the financing costs of key enterprises in the production to less than 1.6 percent.
Virus-hit city makes all efforts to fight against novel coronavirus epidemic
It’s noteworthy that the battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak has created development opportunities for new economy, new business models and new technologies. Thanks to China’s highly developed internet industry, at present, online meetings and working from home are becoming a prioritized choice for many enterprises when resuming production.
According to statistics released by DingTalk, an enterprise communication and collaboration platform developed by Alibaba Group, over 2 million enterprises have managed health information of their employees just days after the Chinese New Year holiday. Nearly 100 million people are checking in with their companies via DingTalk’s clock-in function, and around 200 million are working and having video conferences on the app.
In the consumption and circulating sectors, the special situation caused by the epidemic is also giving birth to greater demand on online delivery platforms. Relevant enterprises are actively responding to such demand and guaranteeing the materials supply for the market.
During the Chinese New Year, grocery retail platform Meituan Maicai reported a daily sales growth of 2 to 3 times in Beijing. On e-commerce platform JD.com, the transaction of grain products also surged by over 20 times from a year ago, while that of instant food and dairy products went up by 10 times and 300 percent, respectively.
Employees of Zhongbo New Materials based in Nanqiao district, Chuzhou, east China’s Anhui Province disinfect a workshop to guarantee safety after production resumption, Feb. 10, 2020. Photo by Dong Chao, People’s Daily Online
A quality inspector with a compound material manufacturing company in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province inspects a finished part of a medical equipment. The company has restarted production and worked over time to produce 35 cases of CT machines and 48 cases of DR machines for epicenter Wuhan and Huoshenshan hospital. Photo by Wang Haibin,
Couriers sort packages at a handling station of a branch office of China Post in Xianju county, east China’s Zhejiang Province.
