BEIJING — Amid further containment of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic, China is powering ahead in returning to work and resuming business and production. The following are the latest facts and figures:
— China's agriculture-related firms have basically resumed normal operation, with over 98 percent of key agricultural material producers recovering production, according to the country's agriculture ministry.
— To offset the impact of COVID-19 on the job market, China has taken measures to ensure employment and promote work resumption, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
In the first quarter of 2020, the ministry has helped over 10,000 central and local key enterprises recruit nearly 500,000 people to ensure the orderly production of medical supplies and daily necessities, said spokesperson Lu Aihong at a press conference on April 21.
Meanwhile, the country offered "point-to-point" nonstop transportation for nearly 5.9 million migrant workers to help them return to work, Lu said.
— China's investment in infrastructure projects will increase in the second quarter of this year as government incentives to boost such spending gradually get implemented, analysts said.
The country will soon unveil guidelines to foster the development of "new infrastructure" projects, according to Wu Hao, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner.
A number of local governments have already unveiled guidelines to boost spending in new infrastructures. Planned investments in the country's 31 provincial-level regions totaled 6.7 trillion yuan (about $947 billion) this year, with 23 percent in new infrastructures, data compiled by Huatai Securities showed.
In addition to new infrastructure spending, investments in traditional infrastructures such as roads and railways also gathered pace, with excavator sales jumping last month.