CHINA'S 'OPTICS VALLEY' READY FOR THE LONG HAUL

The electronics and optical communication equipment manufacturing industry in China is likely to see pressure in the short term as the novel coronavirus outbreak might have an influence on the normal production of related companies in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, but the impact will be temporary, said industry insiders.

Wuhan is not only a megacity with a population of more than 10 million, but also a crucial link in China's manufacturing industry chain. A string of technology companies have set up their factories in Wuhan.

Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and a key Apple supplier, said it was confident of achieving its production targets despite the virus outbreak. The company has a manufacturing facility in Wuhan, the outbreak's epicenter.

"Foxconn is closely monitoring the current public health challenge linked to the coronavirus and applying all recommended health and hygiene practices to all aspects of its operations in the affected markets," the company said in a written statement.

"Our facilities in the Chinese mainland are following holiday schedules and will continue to do so until all businesses have resumed standard operating hours," it said.

Foxconn did not comment on its specific production practices but confirmed that "we have measures in place to ensure that we can continue to meet all global manufacturing obligations."

According to a work report of the Wuhan municipal government, optoelectronic information, automobile and parts, biomedicine and medical equipment are the three pillar industries of the city, with the revenue of the main businesses exceeding 500 billion yuan ($71.5 billion) in 2018.

The Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone, known as the "Optics Valley of China", is now among the most innovative and fastest-growing regions in Central China.

Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's largest personal computer maker, said the company is confident in its ability to minimize the novel coronavirus' negative impact on its business, thanks to its global manufacturing and sales layout as well as the use of cutting-edge technologies to automate production.

Lenovo, which has one of its biggest plants in Wuhan said it has taken a string of actions to respond to the virus and donated all IT equipment necessary for the special treatment center in the city.

KEY MEETING EMPHASIZES TREATING ALL PATIENTS

A meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on Tuesday adopted measures to enable more patients infected with the novel coronavirus in Hubei province and especially Wuhan to obtain treatment, improve recovery rates and reduce fatalities.

Participants at the meeting of the leading group of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on coping with the outbreak reiterated that helping Hubei and its provincial capital, the epicenter of the outbreak, are top priorities in curbing the contagion.

As of Monday, the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus rose to 20,438 on the Chinese mainland, including 425 deaths, with 2,788 people in critical condition. Hubei province alone reported 13,522 infections with 414 deaths.

The government will requisition a number of hotels and other venues for purposes of receiving and treating patients with mild symptoms or for medical observation of close contacts, said a statement released after the meeting.

Some multi-specialty hospitals will be transformed into dedicated hospitals to receive infected people, and the government will build a number of makeshift hospitals and assign another 2,000 medical workers to support epidemic control and prevention efforts in Hubei, the statement said.

Authorities will send more high-caliber medical teams to take over hospitals or inpatient wards that receive critically ill patients, it said.

Medical treatment at the primary level will be bolstered, and medical workers will be granted more rest to protect their physical and mental health, the statement said.

The meeting also highlighted the need to boost the diagnostic test capacity in Wuhan to reduce testing times, with measures to allow for eligible third-party institutions to conduct nucleic acid tests.

It also called for further refining of diagnostic and treatment methods so that therapies already proved effective can be included in standard medical procedures.

Participants at the meeting also called for resolute steps to concentrate treatment and protection resources at the outbreak's front line, saying that the supply of key necessities must be ensured.

Producers of protective gowns and surgical masks were urged to return to maximum production capacity as soon as possible and to further expand their production capacity, the statement said, adding that imported medical resources that comply with related standards must be put to use as soon as possible.

The meeting also underlined the importance of coordinating key businesses, especially central State-owned enterprises, to step up their production of key items.

Transport networks must be unimpeded to improve the efficiency of resource distribution and ensure market supply, the statement said.

The meeting called for the State Council's mechanism for coordinated control and prevention to be refined to better manage the supply and demand balance of medical resources and ensure better coordinated distribution of key resources on a daily basis.

The transport network must be better coordinated to reduce travel congestion after the Spring Festival holiday, the statement said.

SUSPECTED INFECTION RATES SHOW DECLINE IN NEW CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS

The number of suspected infections of the novel coronavirus grew at a slower rate nationwide on Tuesday, with daily suspected cases up by less than 4,000 for the first time since Jan 29, according to the National Health Commission.

A total of 3,971 suspected cases were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of suspected cases on the Chinese mainland to 23,260 as of Tuesday at midnight, the commission said on Wednesday.

The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases rose to 24,324 as of Tuesday at midnight, including 490 deaths, it said.

A total of 3,887 new confirmed cases were reported on Tuesday — including 65 new fatalities, all in Hubei province, the commission said.

The number of confirmed cases rose to 18 in Hong Kong, including one death, 10 in Macao and 11 in Taiwan, the commission said.

Health authorities on the mainland have traced 252,154 people with close contact with patients, with 185,555 of them still under medical observation, according to the commission.

Hubei province reported 65 new fatalities on Tuesday, and 49 in Wuhan, epicenter of the epidemic, bringing the total number of deaths in the province to 479 as of Tuesday at midnight, the provincial health commission said on Wednesday.

The number of confirmed cases increased by 3,156 on Tuesday, resulting in a total number of 16,678 cases reported in the province including 711 in critical condition. Of all the confirmed cases, 8,351 were reported in Wuhan.

WHO SAYS CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK NOT YET PANDEMIC

The World Health Organisation said the deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus does not constitute a "pandemic".

Sylvie Briand, director of global Infectious Hazard Preparedness at the WHO, said on Tuesday, "Currently we are not in a pandemic, we are at a phase where we have an epidemic of coronavirus with multiple foci and we try to extinguish the transmission in each of these foci."

Briand also stressed the importance in tackling misinformation and rumors surrounding the virus which has so far killed 425 people and infected more than 20,000.

RESOURCE SHORTAGES RAISE RISK OF DEATH, OFFICIAL SAYS

The mortality rate for known cases of the novel coronavirus is significantly higher in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, than other parts of the country — a gap that health officials and experts are racing to close by ramping up medical assistance and enhancing the region's critical care capability.

The mortality rate — total deaths as a proportion of the number of confirmed cases — is running at 2.1 percent on the Chinese mainland, down from 2.3 percent at the onset of the outbreak, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.

In Hubei province, the death rate of confirmed infections averages at 3.1 percent, while in Wuhan, the provincial capital, where the disease first surfaced, the mortality rate is estimated to be around 4.9 percent, according to the commission.

After excluding infections and fatalities reported in Hubei, the death rate in 30 other provincial-level regions on the mainland dropped to 0.16 percent, according to Jiao Yahui, deputy chief of the commission's medical administration and supervision department.

A dire shortage of intensive care specialists and hospital beds has contributed to the higher mortality rate in Wuhan, Jiao said.

"The three hospitals designated to receive infected patients in severe condition house a total of 110 beds in their intensive care units, which far from meets the demand," she said.

"The remaining seriously ill patients are then allocated to about 20 medical institutions across the city, which may not be able to provide sufficient professional care from intensive care staff," Jiao said. "This has also weakened the city's capability to save critically ill patients."

To address the shortage, the commission has recently assigned three other hospitals in Wuhan to focus on treating severe cases of the new virus. They are designed to accommodate a total of 1,000 patients requiring special care.

About 3,000 doctors and nurses specializing in providing intensive care will be deployed to take charge of wards receiving patients in a serious condition, the commission said.

"A new team composed of the presidents or leading Party officials of 16 hospitals across the country has also gathered and is on standby. It is intended to improve the management of intensive care units in Wuhan and drive down the mortality rate in the city," Jiao said.

Li Lanjuan, a member of the commission's senior-level expert panel, said in an interview with China Central Television on Monday night that the outbreak is nearing its peak.

The rising caseload is straining the already overburdened medical institutions in Hubei, leading to a lack of medical staff capable of concentrating on the critically ill, Li said.

"In Hubei, and particularly in Wuhan, one doctor could be under great pressure to monitor several patients, while in other regions, a handful of doctors are able to focus on one patient," she said.

"However, with the medical assistance and advanced therapies destined for Wuhan, it is very likely that the disease will be contained and the death rate will be cut," Li added.

NATION TO ENSURE COAL SUPPLIES TO STRICKEN REGIONS

China will ensure sufficient supplies of coal, the main fuel for households and hospitals, in the major epidemic-stricken areas of the country, as part of its concerted efforts to tackle the novel coronavirus outbreak.

According to a statement issued by the National Energy Administration, coal industry officials at the various production centers have been urged to strictly supervise the production process and ensure that there are no coronavirus outbreaks at the mines under their jurisdiction.

The officials and departments have been urged to prevent unwarranted price spikes and not place any restrictions on coal shipments to other regions. Efforts should also be stepped up to tackle logistics barriers, it said, adding that local coal industry officials and departments must communicate with the related departments to ensure smooth traffic both on road and by railway.

The statement also said local coal industry departments should guarantee stable supplies through strengthened internal management while protecting workers' health.

Other regions that will be given priority for coal supplies include Northeast China, which is a hub for China's traditional industries like manufacturing, and the city cluster Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan industrial area.

"Adequate power supply is a critical infrastructure as it encompasses all sectors be it daily lives to community resilience to medical rescue. A stable and abundant power supply is essential for people's health, safety, and the nation's security," said Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University.

As a major energy source for electricity generation, coal provides power in a more stable and steady way, compared with non-fossil fuel energies like wind and solar power, which makes the black gold especially important in disaster-stricken areas, Lin said

CHINA LEADS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR

Since the renewable energy law took effect in January 2006, China's renewable energy sector has grown into the world's largest from its modest beginnings, with rapid utilization of renewable power and the advancement of related technologies.

In 2018, 26.7 percent of the electricity generated in China, or 1,867,000 gigawatt hours, was from renewables, increasing 10.6 percentage points from the level in 2005.

The central authorities have invested more than 3 billion yuan ($434.66 million) on research and development of renewable energy technologies during the 12th and 13th Five-Year Plan (2011-20) periods, data from the National Energy Administration and the Ministry of Science and Technology showed.

In the coming 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, wind and photovoltaic power across China are to fully achieve power grid parity, or the tipping point at which their generation costs are the same or less as electricity from the power grid, thanks to the country's efforts to reach a greener energy mix, industry experts said.

Li Ye, executive director for regulation at the National Energy Administration, said during the annual China EV 100 Forum held on Jan 10-12 that China's non-fossil energy power capacity had totaled 800 gigawatts by the end of 2019, accounting for 41.5 percent of the total.

The capacity of hydropower, wind power and PV power respectively hit 360 GW, 200 GW and 190 GW, levels that top those seen in the rest of the world.

He said the average utilization rate of hydropower, wind and PV power had achieved 97 percent, 96 percent and 98 percent respectively in 2019. Non-fossil power, which also includes nuclear power, contributed to 30 percent of total power generation.

Kou Nannan, head of China research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said enhancement in market-oriented competition would further boost the development of China's new energy sector.

"The costs of wind and PV power are set to continue dropping during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, making them increasingly competitive, as reforms in the electricity market deepens, with market forces playing a bigger role in the new energy sector," he said.

For the long term, the renewable energy industry will develop in a healthy fashion without subsidies, thanks to market competition that brings down costs.

It is within the industry's expectation that the authorities will cap and finally phase out subsidies for new projects, although it is difficult for some players to make sustainable profits in certain regions without those subsidies, according to Kou.