Coronavirus: 12 imported cases among 16 new infections

Sixteen new infections of the novel coronavirus on the Chinese mainland were reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 80,860, the National Health Commission said on Monday.

Of those new infections, four were in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province and also the center of the epidemic.

The other 12 cases, all imported ones, were in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Yunnan and Gansu.

To date, 123 imported cases have been confirmed.

As of Sunday midnight, the commission reported 14 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,213. All the new fatalities were in Hubei.

The commission also reported 41 new suspected cases. On the same day, a total of 838 people were discharged from hospitals after recovering.

The commission added that the number of patients in severe condition had fallen by 194 in the past 24 hours.

It also said that 680,462 close contacts had been traced as of Sunday midnight. Also, 1,316 were discharged from medical observation in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, another 9,582 close contacts are still under medical observation.

Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have reported a total of 217 confirmed cases, with four deaths in Hong Kong and one death in Taiwan, according to the commission.

In Hubei, the total confirmed cases reached 67,798 by Sunday midnight. Of them, about three quarters were reported in Wuhan.

The province had seen total of 3,099 fatalities, said the commission.

It also reported 816 new recovered cases in the province on the same day. A total of 2,975 patients are still in severe condition.