China lifting lockdown of Hubei province

Outbound travel restrictions that have been in place since January in China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the new coronavirus outbreak, will be lifted on Wednesday.

The loosening on traffic out of the province will not apply to Wuhan, the city where the outbreak originated, a notice from the provincial government posted online says.

"From midnight on 25 March traffic controls on leaving Hubei will be eliminated, with the exception of Wuhan," the notice says.

Travel restrictions for leaving Wuhan will be lifted on April 8 and people will be able to leave on the basis of using a health code.

Wuhan has been under lockdown since January 23.

The number of new cases in Hubei has fallen sharply in recent days, logging three full days without a case of local transmission.