The bank loans had an average interest rate of 2.35%, and were made mostly to manufacturers, medical suppliers and equipment makers, Li Jun, deputy director of the Shanghai Financial Service Office, told a news briefing.

China's benchmark loan prime rate (LPR) is 4.05%, having been cut by 10 basis points earlier in the day as part of stepped-up support measures by authorities to cushion the blow to economic growth from the coronavirus that has now caused more than 2,100 deaths.

Li said in an emailed statement to Reuters that the coronavirus outbreak has not impacted the opening up of China's financial policies and the implementation of those policies.

"Shanghai's financial market is also speeding up product development, allowing foreign institutions to participate in China's financial market more easily, allocate more high-quality Renminbi assets, and share the benefits of China's reforms and opening up," Li said in the email.

The Shanghai branch of China Development Bank (CDB), the country's main policy bank, has issued 231 million yuan of emergency loans to firms including Shanghai Kaimi Technology Co, SAIC Maxus Automotive Co, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical, and Shanghai Desano Pharmaceuticals Co, said Zhu Xuesong, vice president of the branch.

Cities across much of China have been in lockdown since an extended Lunar New Year holiday last month, while travel bans and quarantine orders have been put in place around the country in efforts to curb the virus from spreading.

The containment efforts have caused economic disruptions, with factories and businesses unable to fully resume operations due to a lack of workers and raw materials.

(Reporting by Emily Chow in Shanghai and Cheng Leng in Beijing; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Tom Hogue)