WUHAN — More than 1,000 migrant workers departed their hometown in Hubei for the city of Hangzhou in East China on March 21 after the virus outbreak situation eased across Hubei province.

A total of 1,071 migrant workers in Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture set out for Hangzhou on a special train on March 21. These migrant workers possess health codes that would exempt them from observing the 14-day quarantine rule once they arrive as Hangzhou and Enshi recognize each other's health codes.

Li Jinggui, from Jianshi county, boarded the train with his wife and two children. "My boss has been asking me to go back because the factory needs workers. I'm glad to get back on the free train," he said.

The train rides are managed by local human resources authorities. No passenger is allowed to get off the train halfway to prevent risk.

More than 5,000 people from Enshi work in Hangzhou as part of the east-west cooperative poverty reduction program. They work in electronics, manufacturing and service sectors in Hangzhou.

Since mid-March, hundreds of employees in the prefecture have arrived at Hangzhou by bus.

By March 18, all cities and counties in Hubei had been labeled as low risk except for Wuhan. These cities, counties and districts have no newly confirmed cases in the last 14 days, and thus are categorized as low-risk regions.