China can make enough face masks to cope with outbreak: Minister

China possesses the capabilities to produce enough masks in its fight against the new coronavirus, a top official has pledged.

Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said the nation has the strength and confidence in manufacturing enough masks to meet what the growing market demands.

"China has the capacity to produce 20 million masks per day at its maximum. With over 30 enterprises resuming their production so far, over 8 million masks are produced each day, enough to meet current needs," Miao said during an inspection tour to anti-epidemic facilities manufacturers in Tianjin on Thursday.

In South China's Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, over 80 workers are working around the clock to produce masks at the Guangzhou Powecom Safety Goods Manufacturing Co. Ltd, a maker of face masks, surgical masks and dust respirators that manufactured and provided masks during the SARS and H1N1 epidemics in 2003 and 2009, respectively.

The company, which has a daily production capacity of 500,000 masks per day, will summon back another 100 workers by Sunday to ensure its production capability.

Statistics from e-commerce giant Alibaba show that at least 20 mask production enterprises have so far resumed and hastened their production of masks.