Customers go shopping as malls gradually reopen in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on March 22, 2020. [Photo/Sipa]

HANGZHOU - East China's Zhejiang province, one of the hard-hit regions by the COVID-19 epidemic, further downgraded its emergency response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Starting from Monday, Zhejiang lowered its emergency response from the second level to the third level, according to the provincial government.

Previously, the province downgraded its emergency response from the top level to the second level on March 2.

As of Sunday, Zhengjiang has not reported any domestically-transmitted new cases for 30 consecutive days.