On 11th February, the Information Office of the Guangdong Provincial People's Government held a press conference in Guangzhou regarding epidemic prevention and control in Dongguan and the resumption of production enterprises in the city.

As a world-renowned manufacturing city, Dongguan has been affected by the outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia. Whether or not companies here can resume work safely and orderly after the Spring Festival has attracted much attention from the outside world.

According to Si Qi (Director of the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security), by the evening of 10th February, 4,491 enterprises in Dongguan had resumed work, of which manufacturing companies accounting for 79.54%, and wholesale and retail accounted for 8.61%. 545 enterprises were involved in key sectors including the need to ensure urban and rural operations, the prevention and control of epidemics, people's daily necessities, and the provision of supplies for Hong Kong and Macao.

In order to help enterprises stabilize their operations, Dongguan City has introduced the "15 measures" to help enterprises solve their difficulties, which is expected to reduce the burden on enterprises by more than 2.5 billion RMB.

Si said that Dongguan is guiding enterprises to resume normal operations in different stages and batches, with resumption of all operations expected to accord with their own priorities as well as epidemic prevention and control measures. By starting production lines one by one, gradually increasing production capacity, and gradually increasing labour demand, Dongguan will ensure that companies' production matches the return of their employees. The Bureau will also implement a social security policy to help alleviate the burden, with a job stabilization subsidy expected to provide enterprises with more than 168 million RMB.