BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- No new domestically transmitted cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported on the Chinese mainland for the third day in a row on Friday, the Chinese health authority said Saturday.

The National Health Commission received reports of 41 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland on Friday, all of which were imported.

Of them, 14 were reported in Beijing, nine in Shanghai, seven in Guangdong Province and four in Fujian Province. Provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong and Shaanxi each reported two cases and Sichuan reported one. By the end of Friday, 269 imported cases had been reported, said the commission.

Also on Friday, seven deaths and 36 new suspected cases were reported on the mainland with all of the deaths reported in Hubei Province.

On Friday, 590 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 173 to 1,963.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 81,008 by the end of Friday, including 6,013 patients who were still being treated, 71,740 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,255 people who died of the disease.

The commission said that 106 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

The commission added that 9,371 close contacts were still under medical observation. On Friday, 1,191 people were discharged from medical observation.

By the end of Friday, 256 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 17 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 135 in Taiwan including two deaths.

A total of 98 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macao and 28 in Taiwan had been discharged from the hospital after recovery.