Workers prepare packed disinfectant for delivery at a production workshop in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang, Jan 31, 2020. (ZHANG TAO / XINHUA)

BEIJING - The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has made every effort to ensure the production of epidemic prevention materials in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

By the end of Wednesday, a total of 81,000 protective suits for intensive care units had been delivered, and 68,400 pieces had arrived in the hardest-hit Hubei province, the ministry said.

Besides ensuring the local production of prevention materials, customs authorities across China have also stepped up customs clearance for prevention materials from overseas

To coordinate the production and transport of the protective suits, the MIIT has sent specialists to assist and supervise 15 enterprises that had been selected earlier, said Huang Libin, an official with the MIIT.

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Meanwhile, Hubei had received 78,300 pairs of protective goggles by the end of Wednesday, along with automatic infrared thermometers, N95-rated face masks and tonnes of disinfectant products, according to the ministry.

Faster customs clearance 

Customs authorities across China have stepped up customs clearance for epidemic prevention materials from overseas amid the fight against the coronavirus.

A customs office in the city of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong province, said that from Jan 24 to 29, more than 10,000 postal parcels of epidemic control materials underwent faster customs clearance.

To speed up clearance services for imported materials, the office opened special channels, gave priority to the customs clearance for medical supplies, and added staff to ensure that the materials can be handled in time.

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Separately, Kunming customs said several batches of medical materials from Myanmar, including millions of disposable medical masks, gloves, disinfectant and infrared thermometers, have been cleared by the customs in the past few days.

Kunming customs also joined hands with airports and airlines, and customs officers worked around the clock to facilitate clearance procedures of the materials.

Staff members unload protective suits purchased by Zall Foundation to aid the coronavirus control efforts from a cargo plane at Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, Jan 30, 2020. (CHENG MIN / XINHUA)

Hefei Xinqiao International Airport, in eastern China's Anhui province, said they worked with local customs to give the green light to a flight from Thailand loaded with 170,000 medical masks, taking only 90 minutes from the landing of the flight to the completion of the customs inspection.

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Northwestern Gansu province's Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport said that two batches of 122,000 surgical masks airlifted from Vietnam were quickly cleared by the customs. The masks were donated by a tour guide group of Gansu and some overseas Chinese societies.

Meanwhile, Shanghai customs said a batch of epidemic relief supplies donated by UNICEF were quickly cleared at Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

In Beijing, the customs have set up fast-tracks for imported relief supplies including medicine, disinfectant, protective equipment, medical devices and other epidemic prevention and control materials, at airports and customs offices.

Chinese health authorities announced Saturday that the novel coronavirus had claimed 259 lives by the end of Friday, with 11,791 confirmed cases nationwide.