A worker is on the assembly line of Dongfeng passenger vehicle on Monday in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province. Photo: cnsphotos

After a two-month lockdown, Wuhan, the worst-hit city in Central China's Hubei Province, is making a gradual recovery reopening its public transit system. But full-fledged business operation will take time.

Starting from Wednesday, Wuhan's 117 bus lines restarted operation to assist people from other provinces return to work in the city and other parts of Hubei province. Wuhan was cordoned off on January 23 to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus. 

An employee surnamed Jing at Dongfeng Honda Automobile told the Global Times on Wednesday that the factory has partly resumed production.

Jing herself returned to Wuhan after the city's transit system started operation on Wednesday. "I haven't got to the factory yet since I just arrived," she said, adding that it is still unclear when the factory can fully resume operations.

An employee in the logistics department of PepsiCo's plant in Wuhan surnamed Xiao said on Wednesday that the company is waiting for a full-capacity resumption, which is expected to happen on April 8, according to local government regulations.

"One of the four production lines at our factory in Wuhan has restarted, while the other three lines are pending," he said, adding the restored production line makes plastic bottles. 

"Although the other three lines have not been recovered, the products are still being shipped as usual because of the [adequate] inventory," Xiao noted. "In addition to our Wuhan plant, other places also have factories, so the shipment will not be affected."

However, not all workers have a definite date for business resumption. An employee at the Wuhan branch of ABB said that they were still working remotely from home and that employees from other places had not yet been notified to return.

World-leading cosmetics maker L'Oréal's Wuhan office is also waiting for reopening. 

An employee told the Global Times that the company is still closed and that employees are telecommuting from home. "The COVID-19 severely impacted on our business, but the loss is limited to Wuhan, because the company has branched out our business," she said.

Wei Jigang, a research fellow with the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times on Wednesday that although the coronavirus is brought under control in China, it is not clear whether it has been "completely eliminated."

"China is under a lot of pressure because of imported cases. We should actively yet prudently promote the resumption of businesses," Wei said. "Meanwhile, enterprises should actively do a good job in epidemic prevention and adjust their production modes."

Mi Feng, a senior official with the National Health Commission, said at a press conference on Wednesday that with the resumption of work and production in various regions and the increase of traffic flows, the nation must not relax the prevention and control of the epidemic, and strictly prevent a rebound of the epidemic from within China.