China will open-up the epicentre of its coronavirus pandemic Wuhan on Wednesday for outbound travel for the first time since the January 23 lockdown, as the country reported no new deaths from COVID-19, attaining a new milestone in the battle against the disease.

Just as China started opening-up the epicentre, concerns of rebound of COVID-19 was on the rise in the country as imported infections increased to 983 with 32 new confirmed cases, the National Health Commission said.

Also, 30 new asymptomatic COVID-19 cases were reported on the mainland on Monday. The NHC said 1,033 asymptomatic cases were still under medical observation.

Asymptomatic coronavirus cases are those who test positive for the virus but do not show any symptoms and have the potential to cause sporadic clusters of infections. Last week, China began disclosing the number of asymptomatic cases for the first time, after growing public concerns over the potential of “silent” carriers to spread the disease.               

Wuhan, where coronavirus was first reported in December last year and then spread like wildfire to other parts of the world, would start flights and railway services on Wednesday, restoring a semblance of normalcy for its 11 million people who bore the brunt of the virus outbreak.

Hubei province for which Wuhan is the capital has already started outbound travel services. For local residents, April 8 will see the resumption of normal life after more than two months of isolation, even as epidemiologists warned that it is not the time to completely lower the guard and ease on full-scale restrictions, especially for community-based epidemic control work, considering the looming asymptomatic patients and possible rebound in infections, official media reported.

While lifting harsh restrictions after the 76-day lockdown, officials asked local people to continue carrying out strict community-based monitoring and management, making sure that a rebound in new infections won’t occur following the traffic resumption.