AROUND 5.57 million people in Central China’s Hubei Province, hardest hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak, had returned to work by Friday, according to the provincial department of human resources and social security.

Among them, a total of 3.46 million people had returned to their workplaces outside Hubei, with Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces listed as the top three destinations.

An official with the department said Hubei had arranged over 22,600 chartered bus trips and 60 trains to send 630,000 migrant workers directly from their homes to factories outside the province at a time when plants across China are rushing to start working again.

No new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported Sunday in Hubei Province, despite an increase of 35 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, the Health Commission of Hubei said yesterday. The province saw one new death, which was reported in the provincial capital of Wuhan yesterday.

An additional district in Wuhan, the former epicenter of novel coronavirus, has been classified as a low-risk area of the virus outbreak, according to the provincial COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control headquarters Saturday.

This brought the number of low-risk districts in Wuhan to nine, out of its total 13 districts, as of Friday. Four other districts are classified as medium-risk areas, according to the headquarters.

Wuhan had its coronavirus risk evaluation downgraded from “high-risk” to “medium-risk” March 27.

Meanwhile, work and production resumption in Wuhan is “faster and better than expected,” Hu Yabo, the city’s executive deputy mayor, said at a press briefing on epidemic prevention and control Sunday.

According to Hu, the rate of returning to operations by industrial enterprises above designated size in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, had reached 97.2 percent by Saturday, and 93.2 percent of leading service companies had resumed business.

The city has introduced a series of supportive policies, such as cooperating with financial institutions to set up an initial 20 billion yuan (US$2.82 billion) fund, offering subsidies and cutting fees to help epidemic-affected enterprises to get through the difficult situation.   (Xinhua)