As a bus departed from its terminus at Hankou Railway Station at 5:25 am on Wednesday morning, Wuhan started to resume bus service after nine weeks of lockdown. Apart from a driver, a safety supervisor was also on each bus, whose duty was to make sure all passengers are healthy as their health code shows before boarding.

"For those who do not use smart phones, they should bring with them a health certificate issued by the health authorities," said Zhou Jingjing, a safety supervisor aboard bus No 511 departing from Wuchang Railway Station complex.

The once hardest-hit city in central China's Hubei Province during the COVID-19 outbreak took unprecedented traffic restrictions on January 23.

All of its public transport and all outbound flights and trains had been suspended in an attempt to contain the epidemic within the region.