Safety is our imperative. Prevention and control are our responsibilities. GDS spares no efforts to fight the novel coronavirus.

On January 20, recognizing that the novel coronavirus epidemic will constitute a potential risk for the safe operation of data centers, GDS decided to activateits comprehensive Class III Public Health Emergency (Prevention and Control) Response Plan, with William Huang, Chairman and CEO of GDS, personally overseeing the rapid setup of a corporate-level general command office for epidemic prevention and control, led by Liang Yan, SVP, as Commander-in-Chief.

The general command office is set up with two goals to achieve:

First Goal: 100% ZERO incident-Ensuring complete safety of customers’ production systems;

Second Goal: 100% ZERO infection-Ensuring complete personal safety of all data center customers, employees and partners.

On January 21, the National Health Commission decided to list the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia as a Category B notifiable disease subject to prevention and control measures applicable to Category A infectious diseases. On the same day, all GDS data centers and offices around China activated their comprehensive corporate-level epidemic prevention and control plan.

In these 9 days-218 hours, GDS stockpiled 30+ days’ inventory of epidemic prevention and control materials; 60%+ GDS employees engaged in epidemic prevention and control; 74% operation teams were in Semi-Lockdown and Full-Lockdown mode.

The Zoning System of “Semi-Lockdown” Safety Mode of GDS Data Centers

January 20

Data center emergency team structure established. All GDS data centers throughout China activated their "Prevention and Control Class" emergency response plan on January 20 at 18:00;

January 21-22

Corporate-level emergency response team structure and responsibilities established, corporate-level epidemic prevention and control plan comprehensively activated, preliminary draft of emergency response plan for data center/office/project site scenarios developed;

January 23

Regional-level emergency response team set up; 20 “Prevention and Control Class” measures launched and implemented;

January 24 (New Year’s Eve)

"Strict Control Class" emergency response plan activated; all supervisor and above level employees cancelled their holidays; corporate-level Business Continuity Planning (BCP) team formed;

January 25 (first day of the lunar year)

GDS data centers in the South Region took the first move to activate the “Semi-Lockdown” emergency response plan and implement a detailed action program, thoroughly preparing for any potential risk generated by people returning to work;

January 26-27 (second and third day of the lunar year)

All GDS data centers were ready to implement “Semi-Lockdown” control;

January 28 (fourth day of the lunar year)

Internal approval commenced for “Semi-Lockdown” emergency response plan of all GDS data centers;

January 29-30 (fifth and sixth day of the lunar year)

By 20:00 January 29, all GDS data centers were prevention and control-ready in accordance with their relevant prevention and control categories, and had stockpiled over 30 days inventory of epidemic prevention and control materials, engaging in an all-out battle to protect our community.

The 9-day period from January 20-29 saw the epidemic spread with increasing ferocity. It saw the whole population of China come together in solidarity to fight the novel coronavirus, and it saw the GDS team working around the clock to secure safety. In these 9 days-218 hours-we have comprehensively improved and upgraded the definition, activation and deployment mechanism of our emergency response strategies and implementation rules for major public health emergencies. We have also formulated our epidemic response strategy for the next phase.

With epidemic prevention and control still not optimistic, we will maintain our high energy and spirit to ensure the operational safety of all GDS data centers and the personal safety of all customers, employees and partners through our professional capabilities and stringent control measures. Determined to fight the epidemic to the end, GDS will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all Chinese people to tackle this crisis, confident that we will eventually conquer the novel coronavirus and win victory!