Chinese society unites together to battle against novel coronavirus

China has mobilized all resources available to battle against the novel coronavirus. In the race against the virus, all society members are united as one, supporting the country’s epidemic prevention and control so as to finally overcome the difficulties with concerted efforts.

Hubei Province started using helicopters to ensure smooth and timely transportation of emergency supplies since Feb. 1, 2020. The first helicopter transporting medical materials to Xiangyang arrived at 16:33. The materials were distributed to medial institutions by the Xiangyang branch of the Sinopharm Group. (Photo by Wang Hu from People’s Daily)

At present, finance departments at various levels are strengthening financial support for epidemic prevention and control. Governments are supporting local enterprises to deliver assistance to places in need of help. Medical corporations are working day and night to produce medical materials and develop anti-virus drugs. The whole society is donating supplies and money for epidemic control with strong enthusiasm.

As of Feb. 3, finance departments at various levels have allocated a total of 47 billion yuan in subsidies for the prevention and control of the epidemic. The money has been mainly used for treating patients, subsidizing medical staffs and epidemic prevention workers, and purchasing equipment needed for epidemic prevention and control and rapid diagnostic reagents.

In addition to the financial support, customs and civil aviation departments have also acted to ensure the curbing of the virus.

According to customs statistics, from Jan. 24 to Feb. 2, customs across the country imported 240 million pieces of epidemic prevention and control materials in 94,000 batches with a total value of 810 million yuan. Protective equipment including 220 million pieces of masks, 2.529 million pieces of protective suits, and 279,000 pairs of goggles, which was worth 610 million yuan, accounted for 74.9 percent of the imports.

As the forefront of the battle against the epidemic, customs of Wuhan Tianhe International Airport inspected and released 7.77 million pieces of imported epidemic prevention and control materials in 22 batches by Feb.1.

At present, Chinese customs have set up special service counters and green channels at customs clearance sites across the country to provide convenient and efficient customs clearance services for epidemic prevention and control materials, so as to help the country get through the difficulty.

A worker makes medical protective suits at Ji Hua 3502 Career Apparel Ltd., Shijiazhuang, north China’s Hebei Province, Feb. 3, 2020. (Photo by Wang Baolong from People’s Daily Online)

By Feb. 2, a total of 4,330 flights have delivered 604,563 pieces of protective materials such as masks, protective suits and disinfectants weighing 4,671.54 tons. Among them, 138 flights headed to Hubei, delivering 192,475 pieces of prevention and control materials weighing 1,213.62 tons.

At the same time, the civil aviation authority actively coordinated various airlines, transporting 7,558 medics and bringing 399 Chinese stranded overseas back home by charter flights.

Affected by the epidemic, some enterprises encountered temporary difficulties in production and operation.

To solve the issue, various provinces and cities in China have successively introduced relevant measures to support the healthy development of these enterprises and those engaged in the production of anti-epidemic materials.

On Feb.3, the Beijing municipal government issued relevant measures to assist enterprises to guarantee the supply of protective materials and raw materials, as well as logistics and transportation. The measures are also expected to supervise and guide enterprises to ensure smooth operation and safety.

Binzhou, east China’s Shandong Province, formulated twelve policies to support the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The municipal finance department raised 30 million yuan to establish a financial stability fund for the SMEs to get through the epidemic, and provided bridging funds for enterprises that see short-term difficulties of capital turnover to repay and renew loans on time.

North China’s Hebei Province has coordinated and organized a total of 142 key logistics parks and enterprises to guarantee the supply of daily necessities. All of them are actively preparing and transporting materials to guarantee market supply.

In addition, people from all walks of life have been donating materials and money to support the fight against the virus with rising enthusiasm.

As of 7:00 a.m. Feb. 3, the Red Cross Society of northwest China’s Qinghai Province received donations totaling 37.58 million yuan, including 35.08 million yuan of monetary donations and materials worth 2.5 million yuan. On the same day, Liuzhou Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. based in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region announced to donate 30 million yuan to support the autonomous region, as well as Liuzhou, Fangchenggang, and Yulin under its administration.

Pharmaceutical companies across China also gave a quick response in a united manner.

Up to now, more than 40 biomedical companies in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area have participated in the fight against the novel coronavirus, and the products developed by more than 20 companies have been directly used for epidemic prevention and control.

Four antiviral drug production enterprises in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, including Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Shijiazhuang No.4 Pharmaceutical, Yiling Pharmaceutical, and Shineway Pharmaceutical have been running at full capacity to produce medical materials. They have expanded their daily output by 2 to 3 times.

As of Feb. 2, 15 medical and health material manufacturing companies in the city produced 36,600 pieces of surgical masks, 4.4 million pieces of protective masks, and 95,000 pieces of isolation suits. These medical supplies have offered strong support for national epidemic prevention and control.