In a remote area in southwest China, more than 1,900 km from Wuhan, the center of Covid-19, Yao Tonghua is in crisis.

Yao borrowed money two months ago to order $ 10,000 to rent a five-story building she cherished that would turn it into a Sichuan food mecca. Then the disease broke out. Seven chefs of Yao now can only sit at one of the empty tables. Rotten vegetables in the yard. Fish hovering in the turbid water tank, no vitality.

"I think the epidemic is confined to Wuhan and won't affect our small, remote cities like us," Yao said. "I am getting more and more desperate."

Yao considered transferring to the restaurant to minimize the damage, but she was worried no one wanted to buy at this time.

In the context of the still-complicated Covid-19, Chinese officials and economists could not help but worry about the devastation caused by the disease to an important part of the economy: Countless medium-sized businesses and Small employs 80% of Chinese labor and generates 68% of national revenue.

"Only 30% of small and medium businesses across the country are back in operation," said Shu Chaohui, an official from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, last week. "This is a pretty serious situation."

A February visit by Peking University showed that half of Chinese small businesses would run out of money within three months if inactive and 14% could not survive until mid-March. Unlike multinational corporations or companies with great economic potential, small businesses say they simply do not have enough cash reserves to pay staff salaries and rent premises.

40% of small businesses said they could not bring workers back to work due to travel restrictions and blockade orders.

The Chinese government is looking to bolster these vulnerable small businesses. Ministries and regulatory agencies have asked the bank to extend loans to businesses that lack cash, asking lenders to delay the repayment period or ignore when interest payments are late. Enterprises also removed some mandatory requirements.

However, according to experts, the effect of the current policy measures is still very limited as many areas of China are blocked and the cloud of confusion still covers. People don't want to go out and spend.

"If people do not go out to eat, it affects not only restaurants but also farmers and seafood suppliers. If people do not buy clothes, cloth workers and textile workers," he said. may be hurt, "commented Dai Ruochen, an economist at Peking University. "The effects on the economy are not limited, they impulse impulse to every level."

In recent weeks, a series of Chinese companies posted notices online apologizing to customers for shutting down and apologizing to employees for large layoffs.

In Shenzhen, a bustling urban area, Cao Tianfei closed his grilled fish restaurant and had to pay a fine of $ 36,000 for breaking the lease. He had to lay off 15 employees.

"I feel like I've abandoned my children," he said. "But I had no other choice. Every morning I woke up, my rent and staff salaries made me depleted."

Cao said the unexpected development of Covid-19 has ruined all his plans. "I don't think about continuing with bank loans because I haven't seen the end of the epidemic. Even if the epidemic ends today, we still have a lot of time to wait." get rid of it completely. "

In order to limit the instability, Chinese leaders are all ways to reassure the people. Officials have set a deadline by the end of April to completely contain the disease. On national television, a central bank official listed no fewer than 30 policy measures to help businesses recover quickly, among them many targeting small and micro enterprises.

Across China, a few small businesses are lighting up hope of survival by creative means instead of relying on relief measures from the government.

Owing to a 80% drop in sales, Owspace, a chain of bookstores and cultural spaces popular with Chinese urban art and literature, urged book lovers to donate money online from them. 7 to 1,100 USD per person.

Foreigners in Beijing recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to raise $ 330,000 to save the long-standing bakery chain Comptoirs de France.

At an apartment in Wuhan, Zuo Weiwei, an online cosmetics and functional food trader, said congestion and crises in China's transportation industry forced her to stop working.

"Dozens of customers who have ordered before have asked me for a refund," Zuo said. "I can't maintain it anymore."

Hundreds of barrels of beauty masks and supplements were piled up in her apartment. Zuo said with the current situation, she was forced to give up her ambition.

"I no longer hope to make a fortune from selling online. My only wish this year is that I and my family will not be infected," Zuo said.