Oct 17: Daily briefing on novel coronavirus cases in China

On Oct 16, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland reported 20 new cases of confirmed infections (19 imported cases, 5 in Shanghai municipality, 4 in Sichuan province, 3 in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, 2 in Yunnan province, 1 in Beijing municipality, 1 in Liaoning province, 1 in Heilongjiang province, 1 in Zhejiang province and 1 in Shaanxi province, including 6 confirmed cases converting from asymptomatic cases, 4 in Sichuan, 1 in Zhejiang and 1 in Shaanxi; 1 indigenous case in Xiliin Gol League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region), no new cases of suspected infections, and no deaths. 23 patients were released from hospital after being cured. 2,229 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. The number of serious cases remained unchanged.

As of 24:00 on Oct 16, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland had reported 9,400 cases of imported confirmed infections and no deaths. In all, 8,937 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 463 confirmed cases (including 1 case in serious condition) and 1 suspected case.

As of 24:00 on Oct 16, the National Health Commission had received reports of 96,522 confirmed cases and 4,636 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland, and in all 91,368 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 518 confirmed cases (including 1 case in serious condition) and 1 suspected case. 1,211,870 people had been identified as having had close contact with infected patients. 20,440 were still under medical observation.

On Oct 16, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland reported 13 new asymptomatic cases (11 imported cases; 2 indigenous cases in Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture, Yunnan). 11 asymptomatic cases were freed from medical observation (all were imported cases) and 6 (imported cases) became confirmed cases. As of 24:00 on Oct 16, 368 asymptomatic cases were still under medical observation (including 353 imported cases).

As of 24:00 on Oct 16, 28,704 confirmed infections had been reported in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan province: 12,291 in Hong Kong (213 had died and 11,988 had been cured and discharged from hospital), 77 in Macao (66 had been cured and discharged from hospital) and 16,336 in Taiwan (846 had died and 13,742 had been cured and discharged from hospital).