Workers have their body temperature checked before entering the construction site of B3 section of Pearl River Delta Water Resources Allocation Project in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 26, 2020. Major construction projects in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have resumed at different levels and areas, with multiple measures in prevention and control of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the construction sites. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

Guangdong, a major magnet for migrant workers from other provinces, saw the return of 6.94 million non-local workers.

GUANGZHOU, March 3 (Xinhua) -- South China's manufacturing heartland Guangdong Province has seen 91.2 percent of firms resume operation as of Monday, authorities said Tuesday.

The Human Resources and Social Security Department of Guangdong said the percentage was up 45.7 percentage points from the Feb. 17 figure as work resumption picked up steam.

The province, a major magnet for migrant workers from other provinces, also saw the return of 6.94 million non-local workers, the department said, citing a survey that covers 15,000 firms.

Millions of Chinese workers return to their hometowns for the weeklong Spring Festival holiday every year, but this year the novel coronavirus outbreak prompted China to extend the holiday, and many factories and businesses did not restart until Feb. 10.

Many city governments have arranged chartered trains and flights and offered subsidies and fee exemptions to help companies retrieve workers while strengthening preventive and control measures to minimize infection risks.

Biel Crystal, Hong Kong-based supplier of Apple's glass screens, said government interventions helped close the labor shortage at its industrial park in the city of Huizhou.

Yu Yaochuan, human resources director of the company, said a total of 27,338 workers returned to their Huizhou plants from Feb. 18 to 26 after officials stepped in, up from 5,403 between Feb. 9 to 18.

Li Yan, a villager from the city of Yunfu, had difficulties returning to Foshan, where she had worked for 10 years, after the holiday due to traffic restrictions amid the virus outbreak.

She managed to return to her factory after "village officials visited every family promoting jobs and arranged buses that brought us directly to our factories."

Previously, Shanghai, another economic hub in eastern China, said it had seen 94.5 percent of industrial enterprises above designated size resume operation, with 66 percent of production capacity recovered. ■