Face mask production is continuing to rise, with the manufacture of medical masks urgently needed on the front line of the fight against the novel coronavirus being made the priority, the National Development and Reform Commission said on Wednesday.

By Monday, the number of masks produced in 22 key provinces had reached 14.8 million units, up 3.1 percent from Sunday, with 67 percent of production capacity being used, Hao Qingfu, deputy director of the commission's Department of Social Development, told a daily news conference in Beijing.

The total included 116,000 N95 medical masks, up 48 percent compared with the previous day. There were also 9.98 million other surgical masks produced as of Monday and 4.71 million regular masks, Hao said.

"In general the production of masks is continuing to grow, especially to meet the urgent need for medical masks on the front line," Hao said."We will make it a priority to guarantee that growth rate."

While some enterprises had expressed concerns about the problem of excess production after the epidemic passes, Hao said the government would purchase and reserve surplus masks as long as they met standards.

"The enterprises that meet the standards can organize their production at full capacity," he said.

Hao called on the public to use masks in a scientific and rational way and avoid excessive usage.

"The medical masks should meet the needs of frontline medical personnel first," he said. "So please try not to occupy valuable medical resources."