Zhang Wenhong, who heads the Covid-19 clinical expert team in Shanghai and leads the infectious disease department at one of the eastern metropolitan city's top hospitals, expects that in the long term, countries will have to take a flexible approach to recurring outbreaks.

In a tweet, India's Ambassador to China, Vikram Misri said the medical kits were dispatched early on Thursday from Guangzhou Airport in southern China. Over two million test kits being procured from China will be sent to India in the next 15 days, Misri told PTI in Beijing.

Thousands of medical workers deployed in the capital of central Hubei province from across the nation also left Wuhan after completing their mission.

As its factories resumed operations after over two-month of grim battle against coronavirus, China is busy tapping into the vast business opportunities of export of key medical goods, specially ventilators and personal protection equipment (PPE), across the world, including India, where both private and government bodies are placing orders for the import of these products.

Wang Xinghuan, the head of the Wuhan Leishenshan (Thunder God Mountain) Hospital, advocated the use of facial masks specially in cities like New York which are experience a higher rate of cases and casualties of coronavirus.

Chinese officials say imported cases are on the rise as hundreds of people are returning to the country from various COVID-19 hotspots abroad, even though the deadly virus has been contained in epicentres of Hubei province and its capital Wuhan.

The move comes a day after China lifted the 76-day lockdown in Wuhan, where the pandemic originated. China's National Health Commission (NHC) on Thursday reported 63 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 61 imported ones taking the total to 1,104 cases.

'India had done the right thing to go for a nationwide lockdown, but the major problem for the country could surface when the monsoon season arises as people's immunity levels go down.'

The Wuhan lockdown was lifted even as epidemiologists warned that it is not the time to completely lower the guard and ease on full-scale restrictions, considering the looming asymptomatic patients and possible rebound in infections, the official media reported.

It is a landmark in China's over two-month-long fight against the deadly virus as the country continued to report coronavirus deaths till Sunday, especially from the epicentre Hubei province.

'If you want to protect yourself just maintain good hygiene, wash your hands often and try not to touch your face, your mouth or nose without cleaning first'

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland have reached 81,708 by Sunday, including 1,299 patients still being treated, 77,078 patients discharged after recovery, and 3,331 people died of the disease.

With flowers pinned to their chests, Xi and other Chinese leaders paid a silent tribute in front of the national flag to the victims of the COVID-19, which is regarded as the worst public health disaster in China's history.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland have reached 81,518 as of Monday, which included 3,305 people who died of the of disease.

The government has downgraded the risk level of Wuhan for Covid-19 outbreak from high to medium, according to official media reports.

The Chinese foreign ministry said on Tuesday that majority of the imported cases are the Chinese nationals returning from abroad.

Hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents and can cause varied disease syndromes in people worldwide, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which is the leading national public health institute of the United States.

The NHC said, 78 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland on Monday, of which 74 were imported from abroad taking the number of overseas cases to 427.

China has imposed strict quarantine measures for all those returning from other countries.

No new domestically transmitted cases of the novel coronavirus disease were reported on the Chinese mainland on Thursday, the National Health Commission said.