(Yicai Global) Feb. 9 -- Chinese health authorities said today that it received reports of 2,656  new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 89 deaths yesterday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 81 were in Hubei province, two in Henan as well as one in Hebei, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Shandong, Hunan and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region respectively, according to China's National Health Commission.

Hubei reported 2,147 new confirmed cases yesterday.

Another 3,916 new suspected cases were reported yesterday, including 2,067 in Hubei, said the commission.

Also yesterday, 87 patients became seriously ill and 600 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 37,198 by the end of yesterday, the commission said, noting that a total of 811 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 6,188 patients remained in severe condition, and 28,942 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 2,649 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said 371,905 close contacts had been traced. Among them, 188,183 others are still under medical observation.

By the end of yesterday, 26 confirmed cases had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (including one death), 10 in the Macau Special Administrative Region (including one cured and discharged from hospital) and 17 in Taiwan (including one cured and discharged from hospital) .

Editor: Xia Ruirui