A worker polishes steel ring in Wandekai Composites Co in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, on Monday. Photo: cnsphotos

After fluctuating at a low level for two weeks, the "resumption power index" reflecting the number of enterprises that have returned to work in East China's Jiangxi Province now shows an upward trend.

The index grew by 16 points from February 13-24. "Based on the model calculation, every point of increase means that about 1,000 enterprises have resumed business," said Hu Zhiqiang from the State Grid Jiangxi Electric Power Co.

As a barometer of economic growth, the index shows Jiangxi's economy is accelerating to recover from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, Hu added.

As positive signs begin emerging in China's battle against the epidemic, the country is meticulously expanding business operations with a precise approach that attaches different priorities to regions in light of their health risks.

Differentiated measures

Local authorities have been ordered to take region-specific approaches when advancing resumption of work and production based on local health risks, according to decisions made at a central authorities meeting.

Regions with relatively low risks should focus on preventing imported cases and comprehensively restoring the order of production and life. Medium-risk regions should promote work and production resumption in an orderly manner based on local situations, while high-risk regions should continue to be fully committed to epidemic prevention and control.

Jiangxi Province now places its counties and districts in three risk groups that correspond to different epidemic prevention measures to mitigate the impact on the economy.

Four out of 100 counties and districts in the province were classified as high-risk areas, 18 as medium and the other 78 as low. The risk level can be dynamically adjusted based on epidemic situations.

With no confirmed cases of infection and no new cases reported for 18 consecutive days, a total of 40 low-risk counties and districts, including Shanggao County, lowered their emergency response statuses from Level 1 to Level 2 or 3 last week.

To push for work resumption, Shanggao has dispatched more than 170 cadres to help enterprises solve problems involving labor, raw materials, logistics and funds that hamper their business resumption. A total of 156 industrial enterprises above a designated size, around 90.7 percent of the total, have returned to work in the county.

Jiangxi is sending out more cadres to assist its companies, striving to cover all epidemic control material producers and industrial enterprises above a designated size, said Xin Qinghua, deputy head of the provincial department of industry and information technology.

Meanwhile, the province gave business resumption priority to firms upstream of the supply chain, such as those that produce basic raw materials.

Nanchang Cemented Carbide LLC is a producer of milling cutters, which are key tools used for the manufacturing of medical equipment. During the epidemic, the company had difficulties delivering goods due to transport restrictions.

Nanchang Economic and Technological Development Zone, where the company is located, helped find logistics enterprises to deliver the milling cutters with lower transport costs.

"With smooth logistics, we can now speed up our production," said Zhang Yuqi, deputy general manager of the company.

Back on track with caution

In addition to Jiangxi, many local Chinese governments have taken differentiated measures to ensure the resumption of normal economic activities under the premise of virus containment.

On February 20, Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, issued a circular requesting that related government departments help companies solve problems such as labor, funds and gas supply shortages, and encouraging small hotels to accommodate workers.

Districts with no confirmed COVID-19 cases or no new cases for 14 consecutive days may further relax their controls on company operation resumption and personnel flow, it said.

Changchun is home to one of the country's largest automobile makers, FAW Group, as well as a slew of auto parts and components producers. At one FAW factory, work resumed on February 22 in two shifts with some 300 vehicles rolling off the assembly line each day.

To ensure workers' health, the government of the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone, where the factory is located, has allocated disinfectant to workshops and helped rent hotels and college dormitory buildings to quarantine more than 7,200 returned workers.

So far, over 90 percent of the enterprises in the development zone have resumed operations.

Liu Guoqiang, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, said the epidemic's pressure on the economy will be short-lived and will not change the country's sound economic fundamentals.

More Chinese provinces including Liaoning, Gansu, Anhui and Guangdong have lowered their emergency response levels after reporting no new cases for several days.

To facilitate work resumption, the country has loosened traffic controls and arranged buses, trains and flights to bring migrant workers back to factories. Taxes and fees for industries heavily impacted by the epidemic have been lowered to alleviate social security burdens for employers.

The Ministry of Commerce has pledged to assist foreign-invested enterprises to resume production - especially industry leaders - to keep the global supply chain stable.

In Dongguan, a manufacturing hub in Guangdong Province, a total of 5,791 foreign-funded enterprises had resumed work by February 23, including 60 percent of large and medium-sized enterprises.

The Shanghai Association of Foreign Investment found that, based on a survey of 697 key foreign-funded enterprises in Shanghai, more than 90 percent of firms in the services sector and about 70 percent of those in the manufacturing industry have resumed operation.

By February 22, a total of 10,680 industrial enterprises above a designated size in Jiangxi, around 83.9 percent of the total, had resumed business with more than 1 million people back to work, according to local authorities.

"With a raft of supportive policies, the resumption power index in Jiangxi will maintain its upward trend. Work and production are back on track and will continue injecting vitality into economic growth," Hu said.

Newspaper headline: Production resumes with caution