Central China's Hubei Province, once hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic, set its gross domestic product (GDP) growth target at more than 10 percent in 2021, Governor Wang Xiaodong said on?January?24.

The province's GDP in 2020 recovered to over 95 percent of the previous year's level, Wang said while delivering a government work report at the annual session of the provincial legislature.

This year's growth target is based on Hubei's economic fundamentals and development trends, while taking into account last year's low base level and the province's potential, said the official.

Meanwhile, the province's foreign trade volume defied COVID-19 odds to register 8.8-percent growth last year, Wang said.

Hubei, the former epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, had imposed a months-long lockdown on its provincial capital Wuhan and other cities last year, closing factories and businesses and restricting outbound traffic.

Its economy experienced a free fall in the first quarter but officials said the effective anti-virus measures have led to relatively fast recovery after the epidemic subsided.

The province has not reported new locally transmitted COVID-19 confirmed cases since May 18 last year.

"Hubei has effectively tamed the epidemic, laying a good foundation for economic development," said Ye Qing, vice head of Hubei's provincial statistics bureau.

Ye said the province did not experience company bankruptcies or job losses of large proportions last year, and its stepped up production of anti-virus supplies also fueled robust foreign trade growth.