SHANGHAI — Shanghai has given the green light for freight vehicles to transport freely in the Yangtze River Delta since Feb 17, to facilitate factories resuming operation and people returning to work amid the novel coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19).

The Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission announced that it had issued a special certificate for freight vehicles to travel trans-provincially within the Yangtze River Delta, a most prosperous hub of commerce and manufacturing industry in China.

It is one of the favorable policies taken by the megacity to help companies and factories resume production as Shanghai beefed up preventions against the COVID-19 outbreak, including denying entry of vehicles from hard-hit areas and suspending inter-provincial passenger coach services.

As of 12 p.m. on Feb 17, Shanghai had reported 332 confirmed cases of COVID-19.