BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authority Wednesday said it received reports of 406 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 52 deaths on Tuesday from 31 provincial-level regions on the mainland.

All of the new deaths were in Hubei Province, according to the National Health Commission.

Another 439 new suspected cases were reported Tuesday, said the commission.

Also on Tuesday, 2,422 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 374 to 8,752.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 78,064 by the end of Tuesday, and 2,715 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 2,491 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 29,745 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said 647,406 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 14,573 were discharged from medical observation Tuesday, with 79,108 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Tuesday, 85 confirmed cases including two deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 31 in Taiwan including one death.

Eighteen patients in Hong Kong, seven in Macao and five in Taiwan had been discharged from hospital after recovery.  ■