The outbreak of the pneumonia epidemic caused by the novel coronavirus has boosted the rise of online education and telecommuting platforms in China, Shanghai Securities News reported.

A teacher produces online courses at the No. 1 Middle School of Urumqi. (Photo/Xinhua)

Yuanfudao, China’s online tutoring platform, crashed on Feb. 3 after it was overloaded by students entering the free live broadcast of courses it provided. The number of users topped 5 million that day, said a manager of Yuanfudao.

The same thing happened to telecommuting platforms such as WeChat Work and Ding Ding. On Feb. 3, the first workday after China’s Spring Festival, several million companies used WeChat Work, three times that of the same period last year, according to a manager with WeChat Work.

Tens of millions of users used WeChat Work and hundreds of thousands of meetings were held on the platform that day, the manager added.

Data suggest that more than 10 million enterprises and organizations resumed work after the holiday on Ding Ding.

In response to the explosive demand for telecommuting, major platforms have launched solutions to make it more convenient for users to work outside the office. While Ding Ding allowed 302 people to conduct video conferences for free, Feishu, also a corporate communication and collaboration platform, explained that online offices could accommodate as many as 50 employees at the same time.