China announced on Tuesday an end to travel curbs at the epicentre of the Coronavirus pandemic, as governments around the world tightened lockdowns affecting 1.7 billion people in a desperate effort to slow the spread of the deadly disease.

Hubei province, where the virus emerged late last year, will allow healthy residents to travel from midnight, officials said, two months after they were ordered to stay indoors. The relaxation of rules, which will not apply to the hardest-hit city of Wuhan until April 8, as Britain and New Zealand joined nations in Europe, the Middle East, North America and Asia in declaring countrywide lockdowns.