BEIJING, March 24 (Xinhua)-Chinese health authority said Tuesday it received reports of 78 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland on Monday, of which 74 were imported from abroad.

Of the imported cases, 31 were reported in Beijing, 14 in Guangdong, nine in Shanghai, five in Fujian, four in Tianjin, three in Jiangsu, two in Zhejiang and Sichuan respectively. Shanxi, Liaoning, Shandong and Chongqing each reported one case. By the end of Monday, 427 imported cases had been reported, according to the National Health Commission.

Also on Monday, seven deaths and 35 new suspected cases were reported on the mainland with all the deaths in Hubei Province.

On Monday, 456 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 176 to 1,573.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 81,171 by the end of Monday, including 4,735 patients who were still being treated, 73,159 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,277 people who died of the disease.

The commission said that 132 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

The commission added that 12,077 close contacts were still under medical observation. On Monday, 769 people were discharged from medical observation.

By the end of Monday, 356 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 25 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 195 in Taiwan including two deaths.

A total of 101 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macao and 29 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospital after recovery.   ■