China's hard-hit Hubei to further lower COVID-19 emergency response

China's Hubei Province, once hit hard by COVID-19, will lower its novel coronavirus emergency response from level II to level III starting Saturday, a local official announced Friday.

Yang Yunyan, vice governor of Hubei, said COVID-19 prevention and control measures will be adjusted and optimized accordingly.

By the end of Thursday, no new asymptomatic cases had been reported in the provincial capital Wuhan for 12 consecutive days, and other areas of the province had seen no such cases for nine days.

Hubei lowered its COVID-19 emergency response from the top level to the second level on May 2.