BEIJING: Beijing has contained transmission of a new coronavirus outbreak and will lift travel restrictions on most residents at midnight, city authorities said Friday, weeks after a new wave of infections broke out in the Chinese capital.

All people living in areas of the city considered "low risk" may leave Beijing without a negative virus test result starting Saturday, the municipal public security bureau's spokesman said at a press conference.

The city's massive track and trace campaign has "effectively cut off virus transmission channels" with fewer than three cases discovered each day in recent days, spokesman Pan Xuhong said.

"The risk factor has been greatly reduced," he said, adding that there had been no sign of wider community spread of the virus, with most cases discovered through monitoring of high-risk communities.