BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authority Friday said it received reports of 889 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 118 deaths on Thursday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 115 were in Hubei Province and one in Zhejiang, Chongqing and Yunnan, respectively, according to the National Health Commission.

Another 1,614 new suspected cases were reported Thursday, said the commission.

Also on Thursday, 2,109 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 231 to 11,633.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 75,465 by the end of Thursday, and 2,236 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 5,206 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 18,264 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said 606,037 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 28,804 were discharged from medical observation Thursday, with 120,302 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Thursday, 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 24 in Taiwan including one death.

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