China has recovered 60 percent of its mask production capability, and is able to produce around 10 million pieces per day, said Huang Libin, spokesperson of the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) at a press conference on Feb. 2.

(Photo/People's Daily Online)

Cao Xuejun, a senior official with the MIIT, said at the press conference that the output of N95 masks, the kind which offer better protection against the spreading novel coronavirus stood at 600,000 pieces a day. China now has sufficient material for masks, Cao confirmed.

According to the press conference, the tension on coronavirus prevention supplies will be relieved.

By Feb. 1, the daily production of protective suits has reached 20,000 pieces, more than doubling what was possible a few days before on Jan. 28. Now, most of the suits are being sent to locations in Hubei, including Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, while the supply for other regions generally relies on their own inventories.

It was confirmed that the production capability of full-automatic infrared detectors bounced back to 1,500 detectors per day, while production of portable ones stand at 15,000 sets per day.

Besides, the production of disinfectants and medical alcohol is also gradually recovering. The country is now able to produce 1,579 tons of disinfectants, 140 tons of hand sanitizer and 407 tons of medical alcohol on a daily basis.

It is reported that by Feb. 1, Chinese producers of medical supplies had already sent 136,000 protective suits, 134,000 N95 masks and 188,000 pairs of goggles to Hubei.

In addition, some export-oriented manufacturers have allotted Euro-standard and Japan-standard protective suits to Hubei.

Statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs indicated that the country imported a total of 56 million masks between Jan. 24 to 30, and furthermore over 20 million were imported on Jan. 30 alone.

In this way, tensions on coronavirus prevention supplies have been alleviated in the last few days, but there is still a gap between production and actual demand due to several reasons such as the labor shortage experienced during the Spring Festival holiday, said Huang.