China on Tuesday reported zero deaths due to COVID-19 coronavirus for the first time since it started publishing daily figures in January following the emergence of the virus in Wuhan city last December.

The country’s National Health Commission said it had 32 confirmed cases, down from 39 on Monday,

All of the confirmed cases were imported, it added.

Total number of coronavirus cases in China as of Tuesday was 82,697, while the death toll stood at 3,335.

Although other countries like the US and Italy have surpassed China in terms of both cases and deaths, the Asian giant was concerned that a second wave of infections could be brought in by foreign arrivals.

It has already shut its border to foreigners including those with visas or residence permits.

International flights have been reduced with both Chinese and foreign airlines only allowed to operate one international flight a week.

Flights must not be more than 75 per cent full, according to the government.

On Wednesday, Wuhan, where the pandemic originated in December 2019, is set to allow people to leave the city for the first time since the lockdown began on January 23.

Officials have said that who has a “green” code on a widely used smartphone health app will be allowed to leave the city.

Some people in “epidemic-free” residential compounds have already been allowed to leave their homes for two hours.

But Wuhan officials revoked the “epidemic-free” status in 45 compounds because of the emergence of asymptomatic cases and for other unspecified reasons.

Asymptomatic refers to someone who is carrying the virus but experiencing no symptoms.

China began reporting asymptomatic cases at the beginning of April. More than 1,033 asymptomatic patients are under medical observation.

On April 4, China observed a national day of mourning for martyrs, including the “whistleblower” doctor Li Wenliang, who sacrificed their lives in the fight against the Coronavirus outbreak.

During the commemoration, national flags flew at half-mast across the country and in all Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, and public recreational activities remained suspended across the country.

At 10 am (0200 GMT), Chinese people observes a three- minute silence to mourn the deceased, while air raid sirens and horns of automobiles, trains and ships “wailed in grief”.

China has identified fourteen frontline workers including doctor Li Wenliang who first warned the nation about the coronavirus as martyrs of the pandemic. Wenliang who was one of the first eight people who warned China about the novel coronavirus had died of the infection in February.

China held its last national day of mourning in May 2008 for the victims of the Wenchuan Earthquake in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, which killed more than 69,000 people.