BEIJING — China's manufacturing sector has steadily advanced production resumption, with 98.6 percent of major industrial firms nationwide having restarted work as of March 28, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on March 30.

Around 89.9 percent of employees in industrial companies with an annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan (about $2.84 million) had returned to their posts, Xin Guobin, vice-minister of the MIIT, told a press briefing.

In Hubei, the average work resumption rate of industrial firms has surpassed 95 percent by far.

The production and operation of large pharmaceutical companies producing vitamin, antibiotic, antipyretic and analgesic ingredients have returned to normal, according to the vice-minister.

Meanwhile, 76 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises have restarted to work nationwide.

Some 92 leading enterprises in key industries have helped boost the work resumption of more than 400,000 of their upstream and downstream enterprises, Xin said.