Major enterprises in China's Suzhou steadily resume work amid latest COVID-19 resurgence

NANJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- By Tuesday, over 99 percent of industrial enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 3.2 million U.S. dollars) in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou had resumed work, according to the municipal bureau of commerce.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the city has registered a total of 105 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 28 asymptomatic cases since new infections were first reported on Feb. 13, the city's COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters said.

The city has taken a series of measures to help enterprises run safely and stably.

Nearly 12,000 industrial enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan resumed operations after the Spring Festival holiday. By Tuesday, over 95 percent of the industrial enterprises' employees had returned to their posts, Wan Li, director of Suzhou municipal bureau of industry and information technology, told a press briefing.

"Currently, more than 30,000 foreign-funded and foreign trade firms in Suzhou are operating normally," said Sun Jianjiang, director of the municipal bureau of commerce.

Since January, Suzhou has established 181 new foreign investment projects and received newly registered foreign capital of 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, with those figures respectively increasing by 11.7 percent and 26 percent year on year.