Residents shop at a supermarket in Qujiang New District of Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 15, 2022. Photo:Xinhua

Large enterprises in major cities in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, which was hit by a wave of COVID-19, have started to resume operations, and support policies have been launched to stabilize economic development in the first quarter of 2022, according to local authorities on Sunday. 

A total of 779 enterprises in Xi'an and Xianyang - two major industrial cities in Shaanxi - have resumed operations, accounting for 47.1 percent of total enterprises, authorities said at a press briefing. 

Of those companies, 439 are above designated size, accounting for 60.3 percent of the total, said Li Zhaoli, an official of the Industry and Information Technology Department of Shaanxi Province, at the 45th regular press conference on pandemic control. 

Li also noted that the recovery rate of multiple large enterprises in the province surpassed 50 percent. For instance, BYD had resumed 100 percent of its production, Shaanxi Automobile Group Co 85 percent, and China National Logging Corp 80 percent. 

In order to quickly recover from the impact of the recent wave of COVID-19 cases, the provincial government issued 10 measures to support local economic growth and secure development in the first quarter, such as enhancing livelihood supplies, increasing actual financial investment, stimulating public consumption. 

According to the Xi'an municipal government's monitoring, all high-risk areas in the city had been cleared as of Sunday, while two medium-risk areas remained. Multiple districts of Xi'an vowed to further seek recoveries in multiple industries, including catering, services and scenic sites. 

All hotels will be allowed to resume operation but will be required to check guests' health codes and negative nucleic acid test results within 48 hours. Scenic spots will cap the number of visitors to 75 percent of capacity.

Shaanxi recorded a 6.5 percent GDP growth in 2021, and has set a growth target of around 6 percent for 2022, according to the provincial government work report released last week.

Global Times