Masks, protective suits and goggles have been in severe shortage in some hospitals, especially in Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak. More and more hospitals are asking help online, calling on citizens around China to donate medical supplies.
Within days, ministry-level government departments, organizations, businesses and people from all walks of life came to their aid to help ease the shortage, and many Chinese abroad are also pitching in by buying protective suits and masks and sending them to Wuhan.
Panorama: Battle against the novel coronavirus
What caused the mask shortage?
Protective suits, masks and goggles, which are critical for medical staff, are in the most shortage right now. The materials are disposable, and medical workers who treat patients with the novel coronavirus have to change masks and suits every few hours. The consumption is huge.
China is bracing for the return of the millions of people who went back to their hometowns for family reunions during the Spring Festival holiday. The annual holiday was scheduled to end on January 30, but the government has extended the weeklong break to contain the virus spread. However, the trade-off is that there are not enough workers in the factories.
China produces around 50 percent of the world's masks. Without the outbreak of the coronavirus, it is enough to meet the domestic demand, according to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (CMIIT). However, the current outbreak has increased public needs and put enormous pressure on the production.
"Everybody is wearing masks, from medical staff to ordinary people, and the masks are disposed of every day, so the demand for masks has exploded, causing the temporary shortage," Li Lingshen, head of China Nonwoven and Industrial Textiles Association, told Xinhua News.
Doctors walk a patient to a hospital in Wuhan, Hubei Province, central China. /AP Photo
How did local governments respond?
Though many factories across China remain empty amid the mass quarantine campaign to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, companies that produce masks, protective wear and screening implements, and other medical supplies are going full throttle under the instruction of local governments.
Some local governments have incentivized companies to produce masks and protection suits by making medical supply orders for three consecutive months. At the same time, many factories have enticed some of their workers back early with three to five times wages.
Jinxian County in east China's Jiangxi Province is home to 136 companies that specialize in medical equipment production. All 30 of the companies with mask production credentials had resumed production by Thursday, Xinhua reported, and more than 60,000 people are now involved in the production and sale of medical equipment.
The national production capacity of protective suits had also recovered to about 65 to 70 percent by Thursday. The capacity is expected to further increase to about 70 to 80 percent in the next few days, according to a special group for the coronavirus set up by the National Health Commission.
Aside from safeguarding the production, accepting donations and importing medical supplies are also key factors. China's medical supply production standards are different from those of the U.S., Japan and the European Union, which hindered the domestic use of medical supplies donated and imported from those countries. But the situation is changing now.
According to the CMIIT, the state council has made an announcement regarding the importation of protective suits, stating that companies around China can accept and use suits that have met the standards of Japan, the U.S. or the EU. But at the same time, companies that import protective suits should provide certificate documents and inspection reports for them to confirm the quality and safety of the supplies.
China is taking every precaution to guarantee that hospitals have a ready supply of safety gear, including allocating special funds to severely hit provinces.
On January 23, the central government allocated one billion yuan (about 145 million U.S. dollars) to support Hubei Province to build a specialized hospital for novel coronavirus patients in the western suburbs of Wuhan.
Wuhan's new coronavirus hospital explained
Four days later, the Ministry of Finance again allocated 4.4 billion yuan (about 635 million U.S. dollars) to contain the spread of the coronavirus across China. Official statics show that governments at all levels have distributed 27.3 billion yuan (about 3.9 billion U.S. dollars) to fight against the virus as of January 29.