The Beijing municipal government will shoulder around RMB50 billion (US$7.2 billion) of insurance premiums for employers in the Chinese capital, as the world continues to deal with the spread of COVID-19.

According to a report by Xinhua, micro-, small-, and medium-sized businesses will be exempt from paying the basic pension, unemployment and work-related injury insurance premiums for their employees from February to June. This was declared by the city’s administrations of human resources and social security, finance and taxation in a joint circular.

Meanwhile, large businesses, private non-enterprise organisations, and social groups will have their insurance premiums decreased by half from February to April, the circular said, adding that the share paid by the employees will still be in full for all business sizes.

The Beijing government has also introduced various measures such as rental reduction or exemption and financial support, in order to soften the economic blow caused by the coronavirus outbreak, which began in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in late 2019.