Dec 18: Daily briefing on novel coronavirus cases in China

On Dec 17, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland reported 2,097 new cases of confirmed infections (69 imported cases, 18 in Sichuan province, 17 in Guangdong province, 10 in Liaoning province, 9 in Beijing municipality, 7 in Shanghai municipality, 5 in Fujian province, 1 in Tianjin municipality, 1 in Heilongjiang province and 1 in Chongqing municipality; 2,028 indigenous cases, 915 in Guangdong province, 394 in Beijing municipality, 183 in Chongqing municipality, 99 in Fujian province, 79 in Hunan province, 56 in Sichuan province, 55 in Yunnan province, 45 in Zhejiang province, 41 in Tianjin municipality, 33 in Shandong province, 30 in Henan province, 17 in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, 17 in Shanghai municipality, 14 in Hebei province, 13 in Jiangsu province, 13 in Shaanxi province, 9 in Shanxi province, 5 in Heilongjiang province, 5 in Qinghai province, 3 in Hainan province and 2 in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region), no deaths, and no new cases of suspected infections.

On Dec 17, 1,773 patients were released from hospital after being cured (55 imported cases; 1,718 indigenous cases, 769 in Guangdong province, 378 in Beijing municipality, 109 in Chongqing municipality, 100 in Fujian province, 53 in Yunnan province, 48 in Liaoning province, 43 in Shandong province, 39 in Heilongjiang province, 27 in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, 21 in Zhejiang province, 21 in Shaanxi province, 20 in Shanghai municipality, 19 in Henan province, 17 in Sichuan province, 12 in Hebei province, 12 in Jiangsu province, 9 in Guizhou province, 7 in Hubei province, 5 in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, 4 in Shanxi province, 2 in Tianjin municipality, 2 in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and 1 in Hunan province). 68,159 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. The number of serious cases increased by 15.

As of 24:00 on Dec 17, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland had reported 28,565 cases of imported confirmed infections and no deaths. In all, 28,105 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 460 confirmed cases (no cases in serious condition) and no suspected cases.

As of 24:00 on Dec 17, the National Health Commission had received reports of 378,458 confirmed cases and 5,235 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland, and in all 338,541 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 34,653 confirmed cases (including 242 cases in serious condition) and 19 suspected cases. 15,274,221 people had been identified as having had close contact with infected patients. 358,786 were still under medical observation.

As of 24:00 on Dec 17, 9,048,578 confirmed infections had been reported in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan province: 484,239 in Hong Kong (11,131 had died and 105,586 had been cured and discharged from hospital), 1,408 in Macao (9 had died and 884 had been cured and discharged from hospital) and 8,562,931 in Taiwan (14,860 had died and 13,742 had been cured and discharged from hospital).