China to lift lockdown in most of coronavirus-hit Hubei province
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After registering nearly no new cases in more than a week, China said Tuesday that it will end the two-month lockdown in most of Hubei province starting at midnight.
Those with a clean bill of health will be allowed to leave, the provincial government said. The city of Wuhan, where the outbreak started in late December, will remain locked down until April 8.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}China barred people from leaving or entering Wuhan starting Jan. 23 in a surprise middle-of-the-night announcement and expanded it to most of the province in succeeding days.
Train service and flights were canceled and checkpoints set up on roads into the central province.
The drastic steps came as a new coronavirus began spreading to the rest of China and overseas during the Lunar New Year holiday, when many Chinese travel.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The virus raged for weeks in Wuhan, the provincial capital, and surrounding cities. Hospitals overflowed, and temporary ones were hastily set up to try to isolate the growing number of infected patients.
Last week, Chinese health officials said Wuhan and Hubei have not reported any new cases but recorded eight more deaths in the same area.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Louis Casiano and the Associated Press contributed to this report