Wang Xiliang, mayor of Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province, said the city's civil servants should no longer wear KN95-level facial masks and provide all professional protective gear, including KN95-level facial masks, to medical workers in the grassroots. He made the remarks during a key meeting on the fight against the novel coronavirus in the city on Saturday.

He indicated the city should mobilize more supplies from different sectors of society to support virus prevention during the ongoing campaign.

"Currently, Kunming has a major inadequacy in facility supply, including facial masks, protective clothing and disinfectant, so all civil servants should spare KN95-level masks for medical workers," he said.

Tianjin companies, including Teda Filters Co and Yuanghang Industries and Trade Co, resumed production of facial masks and protective clothing on Jan 21, and a number of products have been sent to Wuhan, the center of the outbreak.

According to a notice from the State Council on Jan 29, all local governments should urge companies to join in the production of medical protective clothing, N95 facial masks，protective glasses, negative-pressure ambulances and related medicines, and facilities should be under overall supervision by the central government.

No local government has the authority to change the arrangement for its local use, the notice said.

Gu Yunbiao, vice-director of Tianjin Industrial and Information Technology Bureau, said the city has taken up producing 10,000 sets of protective clothing and after production is over, they will be directly sent to Wuhan.

Yang Wenjuan, head of the Research and Development Department at Teda Filters, said: "After the facial masks were completed, all of them are under government-arranged transportation routes for the needy."