A man riding his motorbike receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-through vaccination site in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 2, 2021.Photo:Xinhua

After a short break from a surge in orders from India, Chinese businesses are busy making and exporting oxygen generators and other much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) to neighboring countries, including Indonesia and Myanmar, as the COVID-19 epidemic continues to disrupt the region.

Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun told the Global Times on Sunday that the embassy was coordinating with Jakarta to work with some companies in China for medical equipment supplies.

"Within the context of donations, we will facilitate the export procedure for oxygen machines and other PPE to enter Indonesia," the ambassador noted.

Media reports said earlier that Indonesia is running out of oxygen as it endures a devastating wave of coronavirus cases and the government is seeking emergency supplies from other countries, including Singapore and China.

A large producer of oxygen generators based in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province is rushing to produce the much-needed machines amid rising orders.

A manager surnamed Deng told the Global Times that it started taking new orders from Indonesia last Tuesday, and a total of 5,000 oxygen machines have been ordered from Indonesia and Myanmar.

The devices are urgently needed, but there is a shortage of raw materials at the upstream of the supply chain due to the surge in orders from India, which makes it difficult to expand production at short notice, Deng said. 

But the company was working overtime, and it expects that all the goods will be delivered within two weeks.

Demand for other products such as test tubes is also increasing in the region.

A staff member of a medical instrument maker in Changzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, which also has a factory in Indonesia, said that the rebound in COVID-19 in Southeast Asia pushed up orders.

"The amount of orders for our tubes that can be used to hold COVID-19 nucleic acid test samples increased recently," said the person. The maximum daily output was 300,000 at the worst point of the pandemic, but current daily capacity is capped at 70,000, which is sufficient, the person said.

Chinese suppliers have been reliable partners for the epidemic prevention and control work in the region, and both Indonesia and Myanmar have received Chinese vaccines and other COVID-19-related items.

China was also among the first countries to provide assistance to India when it faced a devastating wave. In April, China exported to India more than 26,000 sets of ventilators and oxygen generators and nearly 3,800 tons of medicinal materials.