As many provinces are hesitant to resume production out of fear of the coronavirus infection, two provinces in China, Jiangxi and Guizhou, have started working on fully resuming production.
On February 13, after Xi Jinping warned that excessive measures to contain the coronavirus could harm the economy, Jiangxi, a neighboring province of Hubei, called for combining the epidemic prevention efforts and resuming production efforts together. The Paper reported that it is the first province that has tried to resume production. It issued an order on February 16 that businesses do not need to apply for approval to resume production; employees returning to work do not need to provide health certificates; and employees, if not from Hubei province, do not need to be quarantined.
By February 16, Guizhou had removed 1,976 epidemic testing check points including 467 check points on highways. Among its 96 counties and districts (inside major cities), 41 had restored public transit and taxi services and 21 counties had restored intra-province bus services.
[Editor’s Note: Jiangxi Provincial Party Secretary Liu Qi served under Xi when Xi was Zhejiang Provincial Party Secretary. Three previous Guizhou Party Secretaries were Li Zhanshu (Head of People’s Congress), Zhao Kezhi (Minister of Public Security), and Chen Min’er. They were either Xi’s close allies or his subordinates.]Related postings on Chinascope: