Commuters hurrying through the aisles Photo: cnsphoto

 
Jiading district in Shanghai and Kunshan city in Jiangsu Province started issuing mutually approved commuter passes from Friday to interprovincial commuters who live and work in two separate areas, speeding up production resumption in both areas and reducing the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the regional economy. 

With the permit, daily commuters can travel between the two areas every morning between 7 am and 9 am and every afternoon between 4 pm and 6 pm, despite the specified epidemic prevention and control regulations that mandate people entering Shanghai to register ID information, residence and work, temperature screening and a compulsory 14-day quarantine. 

At the moment, only one checkpoint on Caoan Highway that connects Jiading and Kunshan is open. 

Over the past few days, an average of around 10,000 passengers with 3,500 vehicles enter Shanghai through the checkpoint every day, leading to a traffic congestion during the peak that extends to more than 700 meters. It takes about an hour to pass the checkpoint on average, negatively influencing the commute of employees and the normal work resumption of enterprises in both areas. 

As companies resume work in succession, the number of commuters and vehicles entering Shanghai will increase significantly. Statistics show around 15,000 vehicles, 5,000 non-motor vehicles, and 1,500 pedestrians used to cross through the checkpoints daily before the epidemic prevention and control were imposed. 

Starting February 10, daily commuters living in three counties in Langfang, North China's Hebei Province and working in Beijing and Tianjin will not be mandated to go through the quarantine as long as they furnish certificates from their employers and communities testifying their healthly conditions.

However, on Friday, Beijing made it compulsory for anyone returning to the city from other provinces to go through a self-imposed quarantine of 14 days. 

Global Times