GUANGZHOU/SHANGHAI, May 8 (Xinhua) -- More provincial-level regions in China have decided to lower the public health emergency response for the COVID-19 epidemic.

Shanghai and southern China's Guangdong Province will further lower their public health emergency responses for the COVID-19 epidemic from the second level to the third level starting Saturday, authorities said Friday.

The decisions were made as the epidemic situation is dwindling in China and are in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

Central China's Hubei Province, the former epicenter of the epidemic in the country, downgraded its novel coronavirus emergency response level from the highest to the second-highest starting May 2, marking that the virus spread is "basically cut off" in the province after more than three months of precise and tight prevention and control.

As of Thursday, Hubei had seen no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for 34 consecutive days.

From April 30, Beijing, the Chinese capital, also lowered its emergency response from the top level to the second level.

As of Thursday, the overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland were 82,886, including 260 patients who were still being treated, 77,993 people who had been discharged after recovery and 4,633 people who died of the disease.