Honda Motors has announced that its manufacturing plant in Wuhan, China is now working at full capacity. The facility, which was shut in late January due to the coronavirus pandemic, had started operations in phases on March 11, 2020.

As per a Reuters report, Honda’s facility has undertaken a number of safety measures to combat the COVID-19 threat, such as multiple temperature checkpoints around the facility, and large posters telling workers to keep a distance of more than a metre. The 12,000 or so returning workers have also been asked to report their whereabouts and conditions during the plant shutdown.

In order to make up for the lost time, the daily production targets for the plant have been increased by 17 percent (from 1,060 units to 1,237 units). The workers have also been asked to work an additional 1.5 hours daily (over their regular 8-hour shifts).

The Wuhan plant is a joint venture (JV) between Honda and Dongfeng Motor Corporation, and one that produced 8 lakh cars last year. However, this is not the only JV Honda has in China, as its plants in Guangzhou are run as a JV with the GAC Group. These facilities are running extra shifts too.

As Wuhan was the original epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, the gradual reopening of its borders, businesses, and manufacturing facilities mark a big step towards recovering from the crisis.