46 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus reported

The number of new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus on the Chinese mainland saw an uptick as a result of the influx of the imported cases recently, statistics from the National Health Commission show.

A total of 46 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and six deaths were reported on Saturday on the Chinese mainland, bringing the two numbers up to 81,054 and 3,261, respectively, the commission said on Sunday morning.

Of all the new cases, one locally transmitted case was reported Saturday on the Chinese mainland, where there had been zero such cases for three days in a row by Friday.

The rest of the new infections were all detected from travelers arriving in China from abroad. The financial hub of Shanghai accounted for 14 of the imported new cases, and Beijing had 13, followed by the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangsu, with seven, four and two cases, respectively, reported on Saturday.

Hebei province, Zhejiang province, Shanxi province, Shandong province and Sichuan province each reported one new imported case, as well. By the end of Saturday, a total of 314 imported cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported, the commission said.

Also on Saturday, 504 people were discharged from the hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 118 to 1,845. A total of 72,244 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery as of Saturday midnight.

Health authorities on the mainland have traced 687,680 people with close contact with patients, adding that among them, 1,110 were discharged from medical observation Saturday, with 10,071 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Saturday, 273 confirmed cases, including four deaths, had been reported in Hong Kong, 18 confirmed cases in Macao, and 153 in Taiwan, including two deaths. And 100 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macao and 28 in Taiwan have been discharged from the hospital after recovery.

With another 45 new suspected cases reported Saturday, a total of 118 people are still suspected of being infected with the virus, it added.

Hubei province, the hard-hit region on the Chinese mainland, has reported zero new cases but saw five fatalities on Saturday. The latest report brought the number of total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 67,800 and total deaths to 3,144.

The province also saw 490 patients discharged from hospital after recovery on Saturday, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the province to 59,432 it said, adding that Hubei had zero suspected cases as of Saturday midnight.