An employee works at the workshop of Hubei Jiangshan Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. in Xiangyang, central China's Hubei province, April 3, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)

The production resumption rate of major industrial firms in central China's Hubei province, once hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic, has reached 98.2 percent as of April 17, local authorities said.

The rate of employees returning to their posts in the province's major industrial firms hit 93 percent, according to a press briefing by the provincial COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control headquarters Thursday.

For the micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, the resumption rate is less than 80 percent, Meng Chunlin, deputy director of the provincial department of economy and information technology, said at the press briefing.

Hubei has introduced a raft of policies to support micro businesses and SMEs, including taxes cut or exemption and labor cost reduction, to cushion the impact caused by the epidemic and speed up the resumption of production.