China steps up supplies of daily necessities

China is stepping up the supplies of daily necessities and urging more companies to restore production to step up supplies to Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, said Lian Weiliang, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission

"We will further coordinate vegetable production areas in Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and Hunan provinces as well as Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in a bid to increase the supply of fresh vegetables to Hubei," Lian said, adding they will also reinforce the provision of rice, flour, oil, meat, salt and other daily necessities.

The NDRC is promoting more companies to resume production as soon as possible and help smooth the transportation and logistics channels through building a "green passage" to speed up the distribution of living materials.

According to Lian, more efforts should be made to strengthen the monitoring and dispatching of daily necessities, as well as augment the reserves to address the supply shortage.

"We will also help companies that restart production solve the employment, energy supply, financing, industrial chain support and other problems," Lian added.