Health authorities in Hubei province pledged on Friday to gradually restore the functions of some hospitals conscripted to treat COVID-19 patients exclusively.

Tu Yuanchao, deputy director of the Hubei provincial health commission, said at a news conference in provincial capital Wuhan the city would recover the facilities' operations in several dispatches to meet local people's increasing demand for regular health service.

He said the job should be carried out with a concerted effort while reserving sufficient hospital beds for possible new infections, as epidemic control is still the priority across Hubei province.

To address medical resource disparities in rural areas, Tu said distance health consultations and medical tours would be held. Training sessions would also be arranged for rural health service centers to bolster their diagnostic capacity.

The remarks came as Wuhan has for two consecutive days reported only single-digit infection numbers for COVID-19, which Tu said has enabled the epidemic control force to shift its strategies from being defensive to aggressive.