CHANGSHA, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Hunan province, neighboring Hubei province, downgraded its emergency response toward the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak from level I to level II Tuesday, according to the provincial health commission.

On Monday, the province reported zero new confirmed cases of the COVID-19, and nine patients were discharged from hospitals.

As of Monday, the total confirmed cases in Hunan had reached 1,018 and 988 have been discharged from hospitals.

On Jan. 23, Hunan activated the highest level of public health emergency response to control the outbreak.