More places in China lowered emergency response levels to the coronavirus epidemic and relaxed travel restrictions a day after President Xi Jinping visited the epicentre of the outbreak, signalling authorities were turning the tide.

Total infections in mainland China stood at 80,778 with 24 new cases by Tuesday, while 22 more deaths took the toll to 3,158, the National Health Commission said, according to Reuters.

All the latest deaths occurred in Wuhan. The most encouraging trend to be taken from the latest infection figures, was lower rate of transmission within communities in China as 10 of Tuesday's 24 new cases involved people travelling from abroad.

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