BEIJING — China's daily number of newly cured and discharged novel coronavirus patients has surpassed that of new confirmed infections for the fourth consecutive day, according to the National Health Commission Saturday.

Friday saw 2,393 people walk out of hospital after recovery, much higher than the number of the same day's new confirmed infections, which was 397, showed figures from the commission.

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A total of 20,659 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Friday, according to the commission.

Friday marked the third consecutive day that China's daily number of new infections remained under 1,000.

The newly recovered coronavirus patients in both Hubei province and its capital city of Wuhan outnumbered new infections Friday, according to the figures. 

A total of 20,659 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Friday, according to the commission

The commission said it received reports of 109 deaths on Friday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 106 were in Hubei province and one in Hebei province, Shanghai and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, respectively.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 76,288 by the end of Friday, and 2,345 people had died of the disease.

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Another 1,361 new suspected cases were reported Friday, said the commission.

The commission added that 5,365 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

The commission said 618,915 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 26,441 were discharged from medical observation Friday, with 113,564 others still under medical observation.

Hubei province, center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, reported 366 new confirmed cases and 106 new deaths on Friday.

The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 63,454.   

Wuhan reported 314 new confirmed cases and 90 new deaths on Friday.

In total, the city has registered 45,660 confirmed cases and 1,774 deaths.

The province also saw 1,767 patients discharged from hospital after recovery on Friday, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the province to 13,557.