Chongqing- Businesses and public transport in many Chongqing districts have resumed operation as the COVID epidemic has been contained on 2 December.

Chongqing, a city of 32 million in Southwest China, has logged more than 90,000 infections since its most recent outbreak began on Nov 1 and most cases were found in 11 districts in central urban areas.

At present, buses, light rail, taxis, and other public transport in the central city of Chongqing are gradually resuming operation, according to Chongqing Transportation Bureau.

Over 20 large supermarkets in Liangjiang New Area have fully resumed operations. More than 1,000 community supply outlets including grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies, gas stations, takeaway restaurants, farmers markets, and logistics distribution centers start operating.

At the Sam's Club store located in Liangjiang New Area, citizens started to purchase daily necessities under the condition of personal protection.  

Chongqing government ramping up support measures for MSMEs

The Chongqing government has released a set of 12 measures to alleviate the financial issues of sole proprietorships and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) affected by the pandemic, according to a press conference on December 1.

Tu Xingyong, deputy director of the Chongqing Economic and Information Technology Commission, said that the measures would specifically focus on easing the problems of loan repayment, capital turnover, and rent payment faced by individual businesses and MSMEs.

Export credit insurance (ECI) protects an exporter of products and services against the risk of non-payment by a foreign buyer. The government supports 100% of the ECI paid by MSMEs that meet the conditions and apply for insurance through the municipal-level unified insurance platform. The policy implementation period is until December 31, 2023.

On credit support, allowing extensions and renewal of loans for sole proprietorships and MSMEs, who have temporarily lost their income due to the epidemic, and banks are encouraged to lower their lending rates by over 10%.

On tax deferral, all sole proprietorships and MSMEs in pandemic-hit sectors that cannot file tax returns on time will be granted an extension to pay tax.

On rent reduction, all sole proprietorships and MSMEs in the service sector that rent state-owned property will be exempted for six months in 2022.

The government further called on shopping malls and market operators to exempt or refund the rent for small and micro tenants in November 2022.

Since cold chain logistics has greatly ensured daily public supplies in this round epidemic, the government will provide them with a discount interest rate of no more than 50% for a one-year loan with no more than 300,000 yuan (about 42,411 U.S. dollars).

Achieving zero-COVID status at the community level

"At present, the epidemic prevention and control work in our city has achieved initial results, and the rapid rise of the epidemic has been effectively contained. The prevention and control situation continues to improve," said Li Pan, deputy director of the Chongqing Health Commission, at the daily briefing on Friday afternoon.

"However, the task of preventing the rebound of the epidemic is still arduous."

On December 2, the city reported 189 newly confirmed local cases and 6,347 new asymptomatic carriers, according to figures released by the municipal health commission.

As of November 30, 30 districts and counties have achieved zero-COVID status at the community level, including 23 districts and counties outside the city's central urban area.

Li introduced that the next step is to optimize epidemic prevention and control policies. The previous whole-area coordinated prevention and control for central urban areas have been adjusted to district-classified differentiated prevention and control.