PROTECTED. Nurses put on protective goggles outside a ward in Beijing Ditan Hospital in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 3, 2020. The Beijing Ditan Hospital, a designated hospital to treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus in the city, has opened three general wards and one intensive care unit to fight the new coronavirus outbreak. (Photo by Peng Ziyang/Xinhua)
BEIJING -- Chinese health authorities said it received reports of 3,235 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 64 new deaths on Monday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
All of the deaths are in Hubei Province, China's National Health Commission announced on Tuesday.
Another 5,072 new suspected cases were reported on Monday, it added.
Also on Monday, 492 patients became seriously ill, and 157 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.
The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 20,438 by the end of Monday, the commission said, noting that a total of 425 people had died of the disease.
The commission added that 2,788 patients remained in severe condition, and 23,214 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.
A total of 632 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.
The commission said 221,015 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 12,755 were discharged from medical observation on Monday, with 171,329 others still under medical observation.
By the end of Monday, 15 confirmed cases had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), eight in the Macao SAR and 10 in Taiwan.
Besides China, the virus has spread to more than 20 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the U.S., Singapore, France, Russia, Spain, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, India, and Canada.
The first death outside China was reported in the Philippines, a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.
The World Health Organization has already declared the nCoV as a public health emergency of international concern. (Xinhua)
