FILE PHOTO: Medical personnel in protective suits wave hands to a patient who is discharged from the Leishenshan Hospital after recovering from the novel coronavirus, in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, in Hubei province, China March 1, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China is encouraging producers of protective suits for medical use to export to meet overseas demand as the coronavirus spreads outside the country, a government official said Wednesday.

Cao Xuejun, a senior official at China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, made the comment at a press briefing in Beijing.