The risk level of COVID-19 in four towns and villages of Shufu County, Kashgar Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has been lowered from medium to low starting Sunday, local officials announced.

The decision of downgrading the alert was made in view of the pandemic's current situation in the region, officials said.

Shufu County had been at the center of a small regional outbreak of COVID-19 last month.

As of Saturday, Xinjiang had 25 confirmed and 187 asymptomatic cases of COVID-19.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)