Photos and videos from the Hubei province, one-time epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, show huge crowds clamoring to board trains and buses in a rush to visit friends and family after weeks in quarantine and isolation.
People thronged the railway station in the city of Macheng as announcements for trains headed to cities across China rang out on the PA sysytems.
Railway stations and airports began opening on Wednesday, though Wuhan remains accessible only by road for the time being. Exiled Hubei natives also took the opportunity to finally return home and reunite with family after Beijing ordered the province to shut down in January.
Schools remain closed for the time being, but people have been allowed to return to work.
Meanwhile, other provinces in China have further downgraded their emergency response to the outbreak, including Sichuan and Heilongjiang. No new domestically transmitted cases of coronavirus were reported in China on Tuesday, with officials saying the 47 newly confirmed cases were imported.
Some 21,046 medical personnel from across China had left the province as of Tuesday, while 16,558 medical staff remain behind in Wuhan – the hardest-hit city in China – to continue with the relief efforts there.
According to the John Hopkins coronavirus database, China has had 81,661 cases of coronavirus infection, resulting in 3,285 deaths.