(Yicai Global) Feb. 8 -- Chinese health authorities said today that they received reports of 3,399 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 86 deaths yesterday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 81 are in Hubei province, two in Heilongjiang as well as one in Beijing, Henan and Gansu respectively, according to China's National Health Commission.

Hubei reported 2,841 new confirmed cases yesterday.

Another 4,214 new suspected cases were reported yesterday, including 2,073 in Hubei, said the commission.

Also yesterday, 1,280 patients became seriously ill and 510 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 34,546 by the end of yesterday, the commission said, noting that a total of 722 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 6,101 patients remained in severe condition, and 27,657 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 2,050 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said 345,498 close contacts had been traced. Among them, 26,702 were discharged from medical observation yesterday, with 189,660 others 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 16 in Taiwan (including one cured and discharged from hospital) .

Editor: Xia Ruirui