The Wuhan local administration earlier announced that people who are not quarantined and seeking special treatment or stranded in the city can leave in batches.
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.
The highlight of the occasion, according to officials, is an address to a special gathering in the morning by President Xi Jinping, who cast himself in the mould of Mao Zedong, the founder of the Communist Party of China as it is officially called.
The total deaths from the more than two-month-old outbreak as reported on Thursday stood at 1,367, with the total number of confirmed cases mounting to 59,804, health officials were quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Talks between Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to improve the relations got off on a rough note at the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin, with Xie launching a blistering attack on Washington, accusing it of being the "owner of coercive diplomacy".
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.
The New York Times quoted Google as saying that it did not know why the site had been blocked. But a report by the official Xinhua news agency of China on Tuesday said supporters of the Dalai Lama had fabricated a video that appeared to show Chinese police officers brutally beating Tibetans after riots last year in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
An explosion on Wednesday rocked a railway station in Urumqi, capital of China's volatile Muslim-majority Xinjiang province. Details about the blast and casualties are unclear, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing officials.
The first priority for the new Tibetan administration in Dharamsala should be to look at Tibetan recruitment in the PLA, suggests Claude Arpi.
The prime minister started off his remarks at the meeting in Tamil, welcoming China to the talks, which were held right after one-on-one discussions between Modi and Xi at the Taj Fisherman's Cove Hotel.
Fan Bingbing, who has been ordered to pay $130 million (Rs 952 crore) for tax evasion, was reportedly kept at a "holiday resort" used by investigators in a suburb in the coastal province of Jiangsu.
Amid the Sikkim standoff, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday held talks with his Chinese Counterpart and State Councillor Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meeting.
Thousands of medical workers deployed in the capital of central Hubei province from across the nation also left Wuhan after completing their mission.
A fire accident in a sulphur mine in a northwest China province killed ten miners, rescuers said on Wednesday.
Shanghai-based military analyst Ni Lexiong said the overhaul marked a significant strategic shift from having a homeland-based defensive force to one with the capacity to allow Beijing to flex its muscles beyond its national borders and to protect its interests overseas.
A massive fire engulfed a private nursing home for senior citizens in central China, killing at least 38 residents who were charred beyond recognition and prompting authorities to order nationwide safety checks of public buildings.
The death toll due to nCoV rose to 1,016 and the confirmed cases have gone up to 42,638, according to the commission.
'Modi forgot to ask Trump for anything that India may need -- and there is so much shortfall all around!', states Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The government has downgraded the risk level of Wuhan for Covid-19 outbreak from high to medium, according to official media reports.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has bestowed special honours on a PLA battalion posted in Tibet close to Arunachal Pradesh for its "outstanding performance in safeguarding borders".
The Chinese side hopes that the next US administration will return to a sensible approach, resume dialogue with China, restore normalcy to the bilateral relations and restart cooperation, Wang, who is also a state councillor, told the state-run Xinhua news agency in an interview.
The death toll in twin blasts in this eastern Chinese port city on Sunday rose to 112 after authorities recovered more bodies from the debris, as 95 people are still missing, officials said.
President Xi Jinping has called for better international communication, urging the bellicose official Chinese media and 'wolf warrior' diplomats to adopt a tone that displays openness and conveys modesty, in what observers see as a rare admission of Beijing's growing isolation exacerbated by COVID-19.
The whole of Italy, a country of some 60 million people, was placed under quarantine as the government stepped up efforts to tackle the coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 10,000 people.
The Indian Army has shown it can face down the PLA, but is too often held back by a political leadership that lacks boldness, asserts Ajai Shukla.
It is the country's second aircraft carrier, after the Liaoning, and the first to be made domestically.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has underlined the need for building a combat-ready army and accelerate the building of the theatre joint combat command system, amidst the People's Liberation Army flexing its muscles in the disputed South China Sea.
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 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.
A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake jolted northwest China's Xinjiang region on Wednesday, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said.
At least two people, including a woman, were killed and 17 others injured in a huge explosion on Monday in front of a school in China's southern Guangxi Zhuang.
Asymptomatic cases refer to people who tested positive for the coronavirus but develop no symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat.
The abbot of China's ancient Shaolin Temple will fly to Germany to watch the World Cup final at the invitation of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, state media reported on Wednesday.
'Kim has once again shown astuteness and statesmanship by securing China's support precisely just when it matters most to him,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Mystery continued to shroud the Malaysian jetliner six days after it went missing as Vietnam said on Thursday that its aircraft and ships have not found any debris said to have been spotted by Chinese satellites.
South China regions including Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were affected by strong gales and heavy downpours on Sunday morning.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin "called in" India's envoy in Beijing Ashok Kantha to lodge a protest on Modi's visit on Friday
Netherlands defender Bruno Martins Indi has suffered a mild concussion during their 3-2 victory over Australia in the World Cup and is hospitalised, the Dutch football association KNVB stated after the match.
