Suppliers working hard to stay ahead of outbreak

Some care centers on front lines have nearly run out of surgical masks

Wu Shengrong's medical supply factory has been in operation for more than two decades. It's routine for the Shanghai company to halt business during the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, holiday. This year, however, the routine was broken.

With most of his 163 workers not having yet returned to Shanghai from their family reunions, Wu decided to mobilize all available employees, including cleaners and cooks, to resume mask production on Jan 21, three days before the start of Spring Festival, as he anticipated the grim situation when the novel coronavirus first broke out.

Since then, the company has been in production nonstop, even on Chinese New Year's Eve－which features the most important meal of the year in the country.

As the virus continues to spread across the country, news is circulating that some hospitals on the front lines fighting the contagion have nearly run out of surgical masks. Wu's factory is just one example of China's medical product suppliers that have been making all-out efforts to produce urgently needed items.

As of Saturday, the virus had claimed more than 300 lives in China, the National Health Commission said.

In addition to the difficulty of keeping workers from attending family reunions, medical supply professionals are also confronted with challenges in procuring raw materials because of the suspension of some production and a stressed logistics system due to the holiday break.

Novel coronavirus was an unfamiliar word to Wu before the day he made the decision to resume production ahead of schedule. "I was restless in my office and eager to do something about it," recalled Wu, who runs Shanghai Dasheng Health Products.