According to the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA), more than 230,500 workers, or 80 percent of the total number, have returned to work. Notably, the rate hit 95-100 percent at some factories. Businesses are currently recruiting more labourers, and many factories are stepping up operations to meet demand and handle orders of their partners at home and abroad, particularly those in the year-end months. The number of workers at the processing and industrial zones of the southern hub fully vaccinated against COVID-19 has reached 94.4 percent so far, showing that the city’s workforce has met requirements to bolster operations and production in the new normal./.