Dec 16: Daily briefing on novel coronavirus cases in China

On Dec 15, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland reported 77 new cases of confirmed infections (8 imported cases, 3 in Fujian province, 2 in Shanghai municipality, 1 in Hubei province, 1 in Yunnan province and 1 in Shaanxi province; 69 indigenous cases, 56 in Zhejiang province including 48 in Shaoxing, 5 in Ningbo and 3 in Hangzhou, 6 in Dongguan, Guangdong province, 4 in Xi’an, Shaanxi, 2 in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia autonomous region and 1 in Suzhou, Anhui province, including 2 confirmed cases converting from asymptomatic cases in Guangdong), no new cases of suspected infections, and no deaths. 31 patients were released from hospital after being cured. 4,288 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. Serious cases decreased by 3.

As of 24:00 on Dec 15, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland had reported 10,528 cases of imported confirmed infections and no deaths. In all, 10,016 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 512 confirmed cases (including 5 cases in serious condition) and 1 suspected case.

As of 24:00 on Dec 15, the National Health Commission had received reports of 100,000 confirmed cases and 4,636 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland, and in all 93,858 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 1,506 confirmed cases (including 14 cases in serious condition) and 1 suspected case. 1,373,829 people had been identified as having had close contact with infected patients. 52,158 were still under medical observation.

On Dec 15, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland reported 20 new asymptomatic cases (19 imported cases; 1 indigenous case in Guangzhou, Guangdong). 11 asymptomatic cases were freed from medical observation (including 9 imported cases) and 2 (indigenous cases) became confirmed cases. As of 24:00 on Dec 15, 459 asymptomatic cases were still under medical observation (including 414 imported cases).

As of 24:00 on Dec 15, 29,332 confirmed infections had been reported in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan province: 12,496 in Hong Kong (213 had died and 12,180 had been cured and discharged from hospital), 77 in Macao (all had been cured and discharged from hospital) and 16,759 in Taiwan (849 had died and 13,742 had been cured and discharged from hospital).