After more than two months indoors, Wuhan resident Tong Zhengkun was one of millions of people enjoying a renewed sense of freedom Wednesday when the Chinese city's 76-day coronavirus lockdown was lifted.

As New York City faced one of its darkest days with the death toll from the coronavirus surging past 4,000 — more than the number killed on 9/11 — the Chinese city where the global pandemic began lifted its final restrictions on movement Wednesday as deaths there plummeted.

As cars queued up at expressway toll gates and passengers prepared to board trains to leave Wuhan, the central Chinese city, hard-hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak, lifted outbound travel restrictions, dismantled traffic control checkpoints, and resumed operation of railways, airports, waterways, highways and buses in an orderly way from Wednesday after almost 11 weeks of lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19.