Enterprises Resume Work and Production in Xi'an, China amid Novel Coronavirus Outbreak

PR82978

XI'AN, China, Feb. 21, 2020 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/ --

As China continues to tackle the novel coronavirus outbreak, its industries

have started to return to work in an orderly manner. Xi'an, one of the national

central cities and an important scientific research, educational and industrial

base in China, has recently introduced a number of measures to help enterprises

pull through the difficult times and speed up their resumption of production,

such as optimizing government services, delaying social security payments,

stabilizing employment with subsidies and increasing credit support.

According to statistics released by Xi'an Bureau of Industry and Information

Technology, as of February 19, more than 400 enterprises in Xi'an have resumed

production. A total of 34 large industrial enterprises have resumed work and

production, accounting for 75.6% of all the 45 large industrial enterprises.

Production capacity has also been gradually restored, as 9 large enterprises

with production and sales of over RMB10 billion have fully or partially resumed

production, such as Shaanxi Automobile Holdings Limited and Samsung (China)

Semiconductor Co., Ltd.

On February 10, Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Group Co., Ltd. headquartered in Xi'an,

began to resume production. With strictly implemented epidemic prevention

measures, it has promptly restarted multiple production lines like the gear

processing line in order to meet urgent market needs. On February 14, Shaanxi

Automobile Holdings also resumed production, with more than 2,000 employees

back to work and one production line restarted. More than 12,000 employees have

so far returned to work at Huawei Xi'an Research Institute. Micron

Semiconductor (Xi'an) Co., Ltd. has restored 80% of its production capacity.

Xi'an International Trade & Logistics Park, China's largest inland port, has

set up a green channel service. With the service, trucks do not need to stop,

drivers do not need to get out of their cockpits, and traffic does not need to

wait outside of the station. Epidemic prevention measures are fully

implemented, such as disinfection and decontamination, temperature measurement

and registration. All these measures help ensure the smooth operation of the

China-Europe Chang'an freight train service. The China-Europe Chang'an freight

train made a total of 200 trips in January, 2.4 times that of the same period

last year. Affected by the outbreak, the Chang'an international freight train

has slowed down its operation, but it still maintains the frequency of one trip

per day.

As enterprises resume production, personnel mobility is increasing. In order to

stop the virus from spreading, the Xi'an government provides "one-on-one"

services for enterprises returning to work, to help them implement prevention

and control measures such as quarantine and observation, nucleic acid testing

and environmental decontamination. Meanwhile, the government is fully committed

to coordinating efforts to solve problems that these enterprises face regarding

personnel, transportation, dining and accommodation. The Xi'an government

introduces a number of measures to help small and medium-sized enterprises

resume work, such as reducing or exempting rents, providing interest subsidies,

and helping enterprises develop markets.

Xi'an will centrally arrange a special fund of 200 million yuan to support the

employment of local enterprises, and a special fund of 1 billion yuan to

support local enterprises in vocational training for employees. Xi'an will

offer a full subsidy for the expenses of the enterprises incurred in

transporting employees with booked vehicles and train compartments; offer a

partial subsidy for the transportation costs of personnel returning to work on

their own; and offer a full subsidy for the costs of nucleic acid testing.

Source: Xi'an Bureau of Industry and Information Technology