Outbound travel restrictions that have been in place since January in China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the new coronavirus outbreak, will finally be lifted, the provincial government announced on Tuesday, according to DPA.
"From midnight on 25 Marchtraffic controls on leaving Hubei will be eliminated, with the exception ofWuhan," an online notice said.
The travel restrictions placed onWuhan, the city where the outbreak originated in December last year, will belifted from midnight on April 8, it added.
The number of new cases in Hubei hasfallen sharply in recent days.
Last week, it reported three fulldays without a case of local transmission. On Tuesday, only one new case ofcoronavirus was reported in Hubei province, according to the latest NationalHealth Commission (NHC) figures. Schools, colleges and universities in theprovince will remain closed until further notice.
Earlier on Tuesday, Beijing announcedstrict new measures that will see all overseas arrivals to the city centrallytested and quarantined. Theannouncement came as daily figures from the NHC again showed that the rate oflocally transmitted infections had slowed, while imported cases emerged as thenew threat. China reported 78 new cases of the new coronavirus on Tuesday, 74of which were imported from abroad, a new daily high. The largest proportion ofthe new imported cases, 31, arrived in Beijing.
Since December, 81,171 people have been infected with the virus across China, of whom 3,277 have died and 73,159 have recovered.
