Hubei workers returning to Guangzhou

Sun Fangfang, along with her husband and two children, from Jingzhou of Hubei province, arrived in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Monday after a bus journey of more than 1,000 kilometers.

"After strict health checks before departing Jingzhou, we are now finally back in Guangzhou," Sun said.

Sun's husband, a technician at a high-tech company in Guangzhou, will soon return to his position, while Sun will stay home to look after their children.

"The bus service from my hometown to Guangzhou has yet to start, although Jingzhou has been rated as low-risk for the pandemic," Sun said.

Sun, 43, was one of over 500 migrant workers returning by 29 charter buses from 12 low-risk areas in Hubei to Guangzhou on Monday.

The workers, who have already completed health checks, will go directly back to their positions after arriving without receiving medical observation in Guangzhou, according to the Guangzhou human resource and social security authority.

The workers will soon return to the production lines in the booming district of Huangpu in Guangzhou.

Human resource authorities across Guangdong, a major manufacturing hub in South China, have organized charter buses and high-speed trains to help migrant workers from Hubei return to their jobs in the past week, following the eased condition of the novel coronavirus pandemic in Hubei.

Last Thursday, the first two chartered high-speed trains carrying 551 migrant workers from Jingzhou departed Hubei to Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

"Our overseas orders are expected to be completed in due time, following the return of migrant workers from Hubei," said Tang Lili, chairman of Guangzhou Haozhi Industrial Co.

The company, based in Guangzhou, will resume more than 90 percent of its production capacity, according to Tang.

The company, which focuses on the production of key parts of machines that make face masks and other high-end equipment, has received an increased number of overseas orders since the end of February, according to Tang.

Guangdong, home to millions of migrant workers, receives about 2.4 million workers from Hubei each year, according to the Guangdong provincial human resource authority.

However, there are still nearly 1 million migrant workers from Hubei waiting to return to Guangdong, according to the authority.

"A large number of workers went back to Hubei during the Spring Festival holidays. Companies are in urgent need of them, especially those in key technical working positions, to better resume production," said Li Jieming, deputy chairman of Guangzhou Federation of Industry and Commerce.

Including the Hubei-based migrant workers, more than 9.2 million migrant workers have already returned to Guangdong after the Spring Festival holiday, which began on Jan 25, according to the authority.

More workers are expected to return to Guangdong soon as railway service in Hubei gets back on track, according to Li.

Arrivals and departures at train stations in Hubei, except Wuhan, resumed on Wednesday, according to China Railway Wuhan Group.

Meanwhile, 17 train stations in Wuhan will resume operations to handle arrivals on Saturday, and stations in the city will begin outbound train services on April 8.