China’s first locked-down province of Hubei, where coronavirus originated, to reopen on March 25

Residents will once again be allowed to travel in and out of the country’s central Hubei Province starting from March 25, the regional health commission announced on Tuesday. Travel bans in the region’s capital, Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak started, will be lifted on April 8.

Wuhan was the first city in China to be quarantined, and along with several of Hubei’s other major cities, remained on lockdown since late January as part of a nationwide effort to slow down the spread of the disease.

The novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan last December. The number of new domestic cases has recently gone down in China, with officials reporting earlier this month that the city saw its first day with no new cases.

China began easing the lockdown in some parts of Hubei last week as the health situation showed signs of improvement. Medical teams deployed to the region during the early days of the outbreak began to return home and temporary hospitals were shut down.

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