Dec 18: Daily briefing on novel coronavirus cases in China

On Dec 17, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland reported 125 new cases of confirmed infections (36 imported cases, 12 in Shanghai municipality, 10 in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, 5 in Guangdong province, 2 in Tianjin municipality, 2 in Hunan province, 1 in Beijing municipality, 1 in Jilin province, 1 in Fujian province, 1 in Shandong province and 1 in Yunnan province, including 3 confirmed cases converting from asymptomatic cases, 2 in Hunan and 1 in Guangdong; 89 indigenous cases, 77 in Zhejiang province including 69 in Shaoxing, 4 in Hangzhou and 4 in Ningbo, 7 in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, 2 in Dongguan, Guangdong, 1 in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, 1 in Jing’an district, Shanghai and 1 in Xiamen, Fujian), 3 new cases of suspected infections (all were imported cases in Shanghai), and no deaths. 33 patients were released from hospital after being cured. 5,282 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. Serious cases decreased by 4.

As of 24:00 on Dec 17, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland had reported 10,584 cases of imported confirmed infections and no deaths. In all, 10,037 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 547 confirmed cases (including 4 cases in serious condition) and 6 suspected cases.

As of 24:00 on Dec 17, the National Health Commission had received reports of 100,201 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 93,917 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 1,648 confirmed cases (including 6 cases in serious condition) and 6 suspected cases. 1,380,114 people had been identified as having had close contact with infected patients. 48,517 were still under medical observation.

On Dec 17, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland reported 19 new asymptomatic cases (17 imported cases; 2 indigenous cases in Xi’an, Shaanxi). 16 asymptomatic cases were freed from medical observation (including 15 imported cases) and 3 (imported cases) became confirmed cases. As of 24:00 on Dec 17, 471 asymptomatic cases were still under medical observation (including 425 imported cases).

As of 24:00 on Dec 17, 29,376 confirmed infections had been reported in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan province: 12,513 in Hong Kong (213 had died and 12,180 had been cured and discharged from hospital), 77 in Macao (all had been cured and discharged from hospital) and 16,786 in Taiwan (849 had died and 13,742 had been cured and discharged from hospital).