Photo/Illutration Migrant workers board a bus prepared by local authorities to transport them to cities in Zhejiang province from Yunnan province. (Provided by Xinhua news agency)

BEIJING--China's lockdown of its cities has stranded tens of millions of migrant workers in the countryside and brought the economy to a standstill as the country grapples with the new coronavirus epidemic.

China's migrant workers, mostly farmers, form the backbone that drives the economy. But an estimated 220 million of them are barred from returning to many cities while quarantine and travel restrictions remain in effect.

Companies are stymied from restarting full production, causing the world's No. 2 economy to stagnate.

On the outskirts of Beijing in the Tongzhou district lies the town of Majuqiao. It is one of the main centers for migrant workers in China.

Most of the work there involves the automobile and construction industries, and temporary employment agents used to handle a flood of job applicants every day.

But almost no migrant workers have returned since the coronavirus crisis flared.

Municipal authorities in Beijing instructed anybody who recently arrived in the capital to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days.

The problem for migrant farmers is that they have no homes to go to in urban areas.

Companies prepare dormitories for their migrant workers, but conditions imposed by local authorities are very strict.

In Tongzhou, for example, companies must prepare single rooms for the workers or establish temporary quarantine facilities that boast spotless hygiene if they want to restart their businesses.

Employers are complaining to temporary employment agents that they are unable to prepare temporary quarantine facilities.

They also fear that if they have to pay the workers during the quarantine periods until they return to work, they will go bankrupt.

Farmers, on other hand, are desperate for a daily injection of cash.

“If we can’t return to work soon, we will not be able to survive," is a common refrain.

“We've been inundated with inquiries from both employers and farmers," said a representative of a temporary employment agent in the town. "This is a very dire situation because the manpower shortage cuts across industries, such as restaurants, manufacturing and logistics.”

Another agent said companies are doing what they can not to go under, but warned, "If this situation lasts much longer, more and more companies will go bankrupt.” 

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