Beijing, May 1 : China's Hubei province, where the coronavirus pandemic originated in its capital Wuhan last December, will lower its COVID-19 emergency response from the highest to the second-highest level starting May 2, an official announced on Friday. Prevention and control measures against the pandemic will also be adjusted following the downgrading of the emergency response level, Xinhua news agency reported citing Yang Yunyan, deputy governor of Hubei, as saying at a press conference. No new COVID-19 case was reported in Hubei on Thursday, the provincial health commission said on Friday. This marks that Hubei, the once hardest hit Chinese province, has had no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for 27 consecutive days since April 4. Hubei was cleared of confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday. As of Friday, the total number of coronavirus cases in China stood at 83,956, with 4,637 deaths. /IANS