Coronavirus Update: China Reports No New COVID-19 Deaths As Wuhan Lockdown Set To End

For the first time since January, China witnessed a decrease in new coronavirus cases and Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus outbreak, reported no new deaths Tuesday.

Mainland China had confirmed 32 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. All of them were reportedly linked to overseas travelers. The country had reported 39 new cases the previous day.

Meanwhile, Wuhan, the capital city of central Hubei province, reported no deaths for the first time since the outbreak. The city only reported two new confirmed cases in the past 14 days. The lockdown in Wuhan, which began on Jan. 23, is due to end on Wednesday.

According to officials, anyone with a "green" code on a popularly used smartphone health application known as the 'Hangzhou Health Code app' which was launched in February, will be allowed to leave the city from Wednesday.

The number of cases in China had been diminishing since March, however, they were experiencing concerns of a second wave of COVID-19 as new cases were being imported to the country due to international travel. According to health authorities, the number of imported coronavirus infections in the country has reached a total of 983. It had also started testing all overseas arrivals for COVID-19.

As China moves past its peak infection period, the Chinese authorities have been concentrating on imported cases and asymptomatic cases as they could be "potential carriers".

China began disclosing the number of asymptomatic cases last week and reported 30 new cases. Health authorities stated that about a quarter of the total asymptomatic cases that were currently being reported had also been imported from overseas. As of Monday, the country has placed 1,033 asymptomatic patients under medical observation.

China had closed its borders to foreigners due to the global outbreak of the virus. However, most of the imported cases in the country involved Chinese nationals returning from overseas.

As of Tuesday, the total number of confirmed cases reported by China was 82,697, with a death toll of 3,335. China also reported that 77,410 people have recovered from the virus.