Skyscrapers stand against the skyline in Chongqing municipality, Southwest China, June 11, 2017. (Photo: VCG)

Most people in the central urban area of Chongqing began returning to work on Monday as the epidemic situation has been improving, local media reported.

Chongqing, a city of 32 million in Southwest China, had logged more than 90,000 infections at its peak since its most recent outbreak began on Nov 1. Most cases were found in 11 districts in central urban areas.

During rush hours on Monday, local traffic police said about 94,000 vehicles were on the road within Jiangbei district, 70 percent of what is was before the epidemic. Jiangbei is one of the most developed areas in Chongqing.

All stations on the nine urban rail transit lines have resumed operations, according to local transportation authorities.

Chongqing, a key global manufacturing base for electronics, produces one-third of the laptops and one-tenth of the mobile phones in the world.

The Chongqing Commission of Economy and Informatization said on Sunday that most of the major 764 electronics manufacturers have resumed production. Of 36 leading electronics enterprises, five laptop makers have exceeded the target monthly production for November, and two mobile phone makers and two home appliance makers have reached their monthly production goal.

On Monday, Chongqing reported 460 newly confirmed local cases of COVID-19 and 3,708 new asymptomatic carriers, most found in high-risk areas and isolation facilities, according to figures released by the municipal Health Commission on Tuesday.

On Sunday, 4,774 new infections (excluding 48 cases transferred from asymptomatic infections) were reported in the city, down 471 from Saturday, which represents a continuous decline for seven consecutive days. As of midnight on Sunday, there were 878 high-risk areas in the city, 578 fewer than the previous day, Li Pan, deputy director of the Chongqing Health Commission, said at Monday's daily briefing.

"The epidemic situation in the city has been steadily improving, but the number of infections in some regions is still high, and the task of epidemic prevention and control remains arduous," he said.

The commission urged the people to strictly follow epidemic prevention and control protocols and reduce gathering as much as possible.

It is recommended that people who have no vaccination contraindications and meet requirements, especially the elderly and children over 3 years old, should complete the vaccination as soon as possible. Elderly people over 60 can be further vaccinated after completing the basic immunization, Li said.