The Chinese province of Hubei, suspected to be the epicenter of COVID-19 outbreaks, will relax restrictions on arrivals in South Korea from Monday onwards, as virus cases have eased there and China has relaxed entry bans on South Koreans, health agencies said Friday.

Since Feb 4, South Korea has imposed entry bans on foreigners who visited or traveled to Hubei province in the preceding two weeks and holders of visas issued by Hubei authorities.

Also, in Wuhan, the provincial capital city where the latest coronavirus has first emerged late last year, South Korea suspended visa-issuance work through its general consulate.

"We will lift entry restrictions on arrivals from Hubei as the province has not reported virus cases recently and China eased coronavirus restrictions on the entry of South Koreans," Vice Health Minister Kim Ganglip said in a briefing.

China has begun to consider visa applications from South Korean students and workers who have tested negative for the virus on Wednesday.

In March, China imposed entry bans on foreigners to contain inflows of the virus from overseas. South Korea has become the first country to receive the lifting of such restrictions by Chinese authorities.