Medical goods supply and demand in difficult balance due to outbreak

The demand and supply of medical goods in Hubei province, center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, are in a delicate balance, and China will encourage more medical supply companies to resume and even enlarge production capacity, the country’s top industry regulator said on Monday.

Tian Yulong, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said Hubei province is itself an important hub for production of medical equipment in China, and its production capacity of protective clothing and goggles are recovering quickly, which has greatly relieved the shortage of medical supplies.

The supplies of protective suits and N95 masks are currently in a delicate balance in Hubei, with demand remaining generally stable, Tian added.

The ministry has been working hard to ramp up production of medical supplies and promote international purchases of crucial protective equipment as part of its broader drive to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak.

As of Saturday, the production capacity of detection reagents in China has been restored to about 60 percent of normal level, hitting 773,000 units per day. As more companies resume production there will be no problem ensuring the supply, Tian added.

The ministry also said on Sunday about 60 percent of mask manufacturers in China have restored production, with more than 10 million masks being made per day. Production of N95 masks for medical protective purposes has reached 600,000 a day.