Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. was to resume operations Saturday at two factories in China shut down after five workers were diagnosed with SARS.
Matsushita, which makes the National and Panasonic brands, suspended operations at the two Beijing plants May 17. They build color TV displays and lamps.
The company has been following instructions from Beijing authorities to disinfect the factories and take precautions to curb the spread of the illness.
Matsushita employs 51,000 people at 53 companies in China. The five workers with severe acute respiratory syndrome are all Chinese.
Fears about SARS are expected to slow economic growth in the region as tourism plunges, business travel is delayed and workers avoid meetings. The disease has killed at least 750 people worldwide, mostly in China and Hong Kong, and infected more than 8,300.
The spread of the illness now appears to be under control in the hardest hit areas -- China and Hong Kong -- but the city of Toronto has recently suffered a fresh outbreak and Taiwan is still grappling with an epidemic.