China ended a two-month lockdown in Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected, on Wednesday, but warned of a second-wave of infections.
Flights and trains have resumed operations, and highways opened to allow healthy residents and visitors to leave the capital of Hubei province.
Around 55,000 people are expected to leave the city, with authorities urging them not to leave unless absolutely necessary.
Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, was sealed off in late January to stop the spread of the virus. Over 50,000 people in Wuhan tested positive, while 2,500 died from the virus.
Meanwhile, new imported cases in the northern province of Heilongjiang continued to surge, forcing authorities to impose travel restrictions there.
Turkey has detained 11 people as part of an investigation into a fire that killed 79 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in the Bolu mountains, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Wednesday.
The climate crisis and an unlimited expansion of artificial intelligence could be existential threats for humanity, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday, adding AI should serve humanity and not the other way around.
Prince Harry claimed a "monumental" victory over Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper group on Wednesday after the publisher settled his lawsuit, admitting unlawful actions at its Sun tabloid for the first time and paying substantial damages.
US President Donald Trump has pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.
Israeli security forces backed by helicopters raided the volatile West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday, killing at least nine Palestinians in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a, "large-scale and significant military operation".