(Yicai Global) March 27 -- Chinese health authority said today it received reports of 55 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on the Chinese mainland yesterday, of which 54 were imported from abroad and one was reported in Zhejiang province.

Of the 54 imported cases, 17 were reported in Shanghai, 12 in Guangdong. Beijing and Tianjin both reported four cases, Inner Mongolia, Zhejiang and Fujian each reported three cases, while Shandong and Yunnan both reported two cases, and Liaoning, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Shaanxi reported one respectively. By the end of yesterday, 595 imported cases had been reported, according to the National Health Commission.

Also yesterday, five deaths and 49 new suspected cases were reported on the mainland, with all the deaths in Hubei province.

The commission said 537 people were discharged from hospital after recovery yesterday, while the number of severe cases decreased by 201 to 1,034.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 81,340 by the end of yesterday, including 3,460 patients who were still being treated, 74,588 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,292 people who died of the disease.

The commission said that 189 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

The commission added that 16,005 close contacts were still under medical observation and 837 people were discharged from medical observation yesterday.

By the end of yesterday, 453 confirmed cases had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (including four deaths), 33 in the Macau Special Administrative Region and 252 in Taiwan (including two deaths).

A total of 110 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macau and 29 in Taiwan have been discharged from hospital after recovery.

Editor: Xia Ruirui