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.

However, a total of 34 new COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland have reached 80,881 by the end of Monday.

11 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection and 13 deaths were reported on the Chinese mainland on Friday, NHC said, adding all of the deaths were in the Hubei Province, the epicentre of the disease.

A 55-year-old from Hubei province could have been the first person to have contracted the viral infection on November 17 last year and cases rapidly began piling up since then, it said, without revealing the gender of the individual.

The cases of infection have been rising rapidly in Europe and other parts of the world, with Italy being the hardest-hit country.

Xi, also the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, arrived in Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus outbreak, on Tuesday for an inspection of the epidemic prevention and control work in Hubei province and its capital city Wuhan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.