BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authorities Friday said it received reports of 5,090 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 121 deaths on Thursday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 116 were in Hubei Province, two in Heilongjiang, and one in Anhui, Henan and Chongqing respectively, according to the National Health Commission.

Another 2,450 new suspected cases were reported Thursday, said the commission.

Also on Thursday, 2,174 patients became seriously ill, while 1,081 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 63,851 by the end of Thursday, and 1,380 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 10,204 patients remained in severe condition, and 10,109 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 6,723 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said 493,067 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 26,905 were discharged from medical observation Thursday, with 177,984 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Thursday, 53 confirmed cases including one death had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 18 in Taiwan.

One patient in Hong Kong, three in Macao and one in Taiwan have been discharged from hospital after recovery.  ■