WHILE battling against the recent flare-ups of COVID-19 in parts of the country, China has been steadily promoting work resumption in the epidemic-affected areas.

With the epidemic situation gradually easing in Shanghai, major enterprises in the eastern Chinese metropolis have resumed stable production, as key industrial chains, such as automobiles, integrated circuits and biomedicine, continued to recover and ramp up production capacity.

All four factories of the U.S. manufacturing company 3M in Shanghai had resumed production by Saturday, the company said, adding that it will continue to improve its production capacity.

Since the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in March in Shanghai, 3M has not suspended its East China Distribution Center and the production of medical protective masks at its Caohejing base to ensure the stable supply of anti-epidemic materials, the company said.

“Now, 3M is gathering the strength of the entire company to actively deploy resources, so as to ensure the closed-loop production of epidemic prevention supplies,” said Ding Hongyu, president of 3M China.

According to a press conference held May 5, over 70% of Shanghai’s 1,800-plus major enterprises had resumed work and production.

The automobile manufacturing industry has been a main driving force for power consumption, showing an increase of 80% in April compared to the same period in the previous year. The electricity consumption of information-related services rose 8.5% year on year in April.

The northeastern province of Jilin, where over 60,000 cases were reported in the latest outbreak, cut off all COVID-19 transmission chains in communities by April 14. The provincial capital Changchun announced May 1 that it had cleared all medium and high-risk areas for COVID-19.

Leading Chinese automaker FAW Group Co. Ltd. began work resumption April 13 after a month-long suspension. Workers in its five main engine plants in Changchun are working in shifts while some production lines are operating at full capacity.

The company’s daily output of complete vehicles has exceeded 4,000 units, and the capacity utilization rate of its factories in Changchun has recovered to 75%.

Li Risheng, a FAW employee, said many of his colleagues voluntarily gave up their holidays since the work resumption. “Everybody hopes to speed up the production to recover the losses incurred by the epidemic,” he said.

All major express delivery firms including China Postal Express & Logistics, JD.com and SF Express, have seen their distribution centers in Changchun resuming work from April 24.

(Xinhua)