Construction on the gargantuan, transboundary East Route gas pipeline, with a 3000-km section in Russia and a 5,111-km part in China, has picked up again after the Corona virus last week ground work to a halt, as with much of China: In the middle section of the project more than 70 workers with 16 sets of mechanical equipment began building after their body temperatures were taken and they were declared healthy.

"A project in Faku County and Kangping County will also resume work tomorrow, including more than 130 workers and about 80 sets of facilities," said Cai Deyu, deputy manager of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline project.

"The construction of the project involves as many as more than 6,000 people from across China. We should overcome adverse factors and difficulties, such as cargo transportation and personnel return, so as to try our best to complete the project with high quality in accordance with the construction schedule, and ensure that it will be put into use by the end of the year," said Cai.

The pipeline is scheduled to provide China with 5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in 2020 and the amount is expected to increase to 38 billion cubic meters annually from 2024, under a 30-year contract worth 400 billion U.S. dollars signed between the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Russian gas giant Gazprom in May 2014.  

The pipeline was put into operation this past December with gas being delivered to the city of Heihe, in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.  The East Route pipeline will enable China to transition from dirty coal to cleaner burning natural gas.

China aims to raise the use of natural gas to 10 percent of the country's energy mix by 2020 and 15 percent by 2030, said the National Development and Reform Commission.