BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authority Saturday said it received reports of 397 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 109 deaths on Friday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 106 were in Hubei Province and one in Hebei Province, Shanghai and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, respectively, according to the National Health Commission.

Another 1,361 new suspected cases were reported Friday, said the commission.

Also on Friday, 2,393 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 156 to 11,477.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 76,288 by the end of Friday, and 2,345 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 5,365 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 20,659 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said 618,915 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 26,441 were discharged from medical observation Friday, with 113,564 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Friday, 68 confirmed cases including two deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 26 in Taiwan including one death.

Six patients in Hong Kong, six in Macao and two in Taiwan have been discharged from hospital after recovery.  ■