KUNMING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- More than 3.18 million laborers have left southwest China's Yunnan province to work in other regions, a poverty-reduction move supported by the government.

A labor transfer policy was initiated in 2015 to help poor households shake off poverty by obtaining employment in other regions, Wang Yubo, acting governor of Yunnan, told a press conference Tuesday in the provincial capital of Kunming.

Wang said that considering the inconvenience caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, the province even arranged buses and charter flights to help the labor forces reach their places of employment.

Yunnan announced on Nov. 14 that the province had eradicated absolute poverty, with the remaining nine counties removed from the list of poverty-stricken counties.