Chinese mainland reports 22 new confirmed COVID-19 cases

China’s health authorities announced Wednesday that the Chinese mainland reported a total of 22 new confirmed COVID-19 cases Tuesday, of which 21 were imported.

The only one native case was in Guangdong Province, the National Health Commission said in a daily report. Two new suspected cases — one in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the other in Shanghai — were both imported from abroad. No death was reported Tuesday on the mainland, according to the commission.

Altogether 23 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery Tuesday, while the number of severe cases remained unchanged at 50. A total of 627 people were discharged from medical observation on Tuesday. As of Tuesday, the mainland had reported a total of 1,660 imported cases. Of them, 1,107 had been discharged from hospital after recovery, and 553 were being treated with 22 in severe conditions, said the commission. No death had been reported from the imported cases.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 82,858 by Tuesday, including 647 patients who were still being treated and 77,578 patients who had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, the commission said. Altogether 4,633 people had died of the disease, it said. The commission said that 10 people, including seven from abroad, were still suspected of being infected with the virus. It added that 8,283 close contacts were still under medical observation.

Hubei Province reported no new confirmed case, no new death, and no new suspected case on Tuesday, according to the commission. By the end of Tuesday, there was no severe case, no existing confirmed case or suspected case in the province, according to the commission.

Hubei has so far reported 68,128 confirmed COVID-19 cases in total, with 50,333 in Wuhan, the provincial capital where the outbreak took the heaviest toll in China. Also on Tuesday, 26 new asymptomatic cases, including five from abroad, were reported on the mainland. One native asymptomatic case was re-categorized as confirmed case, and 29 people, four of whom were from abroad, were discharged from medical observation, according to the commission.