(Photo: People's Daily)

Hubei Province will implement measures to address medical supply shortages, said Jiang Chaoliang, secretary of Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) during a press conference on Thursday. 

To fight against the novel coronavirus, the government will adopt three measures that address hospital beds, strengthening the classification system, and ensuring medical supplies. 

The province has 28 hospitals with the capability to test for the pneumonia, and single-day sample testing throughout the province has increased from 200 to 4,000, Jiang said. 

Companies in Hubei Province have continued with non-stop production. It has been estimated the province can hit production levels of about 20,000 sets of protective clothing in the next two or three days, Jiang added.

Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, is the main battlefield for prevention and control, Jiang stressed. Measures to keep the virus inside Wuhan have been made out of consideration for the safety and health of all Chinese. 

Simultaneously, discussions are underway by provincial government officials to allow Hubei residents that have been forced to remain outside of the province to return home.

“We are very grateful to other provinces for overcoming difficulties with us and helping to take care of Hubei people (who are stranded in other provinces),” Jiang said, and added, “We also hope those Hubei people take care of themselves in accordance with local governments and prevent and control well. We wait for you to come home safely.”