A total of 143 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 30 deaths were reported on Thursday on the Chinese mainland, bringing the two numbers up to 80,552 and 3,042, respectively, the National Health Commission said Friday morning.

With the majority of the new confirmed cases coming from Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic outbreak, the Chinese mainland outside the province reported 17 new infections, 16 of which were imported cases, with 11 in Gansu province, four in Beijing and one in Shanghai.

By the end of Thursday, 36 imported cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported, said the commission.

Apart from one fatality in Hainan province, the other 29 deaths were all in Hubei province, it said, adding that with another 102 new suspected cases reported Thursday, a total of 482 people are still suspected of being infected with the virus.

Also on Thursday, 1,681 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 215 to 5,737. A total of 53,726 people had been discharged after recovery as of Thursday midnight.

Health authorities on the mainland have traced 670,854 people with close contact with patients, adding that among them, 5,457 were discharged from medical observation Thursday, with 29,896 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Thursday, 104 confirmed cases, including two deaths, had been reported in the Hong Kong, 10 confirmed cases in the Macao, and 44 in Taiwan, including one death. And 46 patients in Hong Kong, nine in Macao and 12 in Taiwan have been discharged from hospital after recovery.

Hubei province reported 126 new confirmed cases of the virus infection and 29 new deaths on Thursday. And the latest report brought the number of total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 67,592 and total deaths to 2931. 

All the new infections in the province occurred in Wuhan, the provincial capital, with 23 new deaths on Thursday. In total, the city has registered 49,797 confirmed cases and 2,328 deaths.

The province also saw 1,487 patients discharged from hospital after recovery on Thursday, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the province to 41,966, it said, adding that Hubei had 285 suspected cases as of Thursday midnight.