Monday marks the first working day in most parts of China following the Spring Festival holiday which was extended to circumscribe the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Companies in the capital city are eager to return to work, either in the office or from home, as they need to keep their businesses operational. 

In Beijing's central business district (CBD) this Monday morning, the flows of traffic and people were still small compared with the usual hustle and bustle. But it's an improvement from the past few weeks when this area was basically deserted. 

The government called on businesses to resume work starting this week, but this does not mean businesses have been in a complete halt until now. As a matter of fact, many companies have had their staff working from home and stayed partially operational for two weeks now. 

Xue Chuan, office manager of U.S.-funded RuderFinn Public Relations that has 160 employees in Beijing, told CGTN that right after the Beijing government announced a postponement of work in late January, they quickly built an online work platform to assist all employees in working from home.

Now Xue is busy taking care of preparations before they can resume work in the office. 

"We plan to have the office area disinfected thoroughly, have handwash ready for all. We suggest employees keep their masks on and we'll do body temperature checks. The epidemic is a challenge to all, but we trust things will get better and our business will soon be restored to its usual capacity", Xue said.

All the provinces except Hubei have made arrangements to resume business gradually. Analysts say more than 80 percent of the listed firms in China will start operations this week, and some note the coronavirus outbreak may witness more people than ever working from home. 

But be it work in an office or from home, there is one thing in common and that is businesses are as eager to be back in the saddle as the rest of the world, which hopes the Chinese economy will reboot as soon as possible.