Staff members conduct nucleic acid testing work at a novel coronavirus detection lab in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, Feb 22, 2020. (CHENG MIN / XINHUA)

BEIJING - China's daily new confirmed cases of COVID-19 outside Hubei province, epicenter of the outbreak, dropped to nine on Monday, according to the National Health Commission.

A total of 23 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported no increase of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection on Monday, Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission, said Tuesday.

Seven provinces reported no more than two new confirmed cases Monday, Mi said at a press conference in Beijing.

Recovered patients outnumber new infections for 7th consecutive day

China's daily number of newly cured and discharged novel coronavirus patients has surpassed that of new infections for the seventh consecutive day, according to the commission on Tuesday.

Monday saw 2,589 people walk out of hospital after recovery. A total of 27,323 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital by the end of Monday

Monday saw 2,589 people walk out of hospital after recovery. A total of 27,323 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital by the end of Monday.

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

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

508 new cases, another 71 death 

The Chinese health authority said it received reports of 508 new confirmed cases on Monday from 31 provincial-level regions on the mainland, including 499 from Hubei.

The commission also reported 71 new death Tuesday. Among them, 68 were in Hubei province, two in Shandong province and one in Guangdong province, according to the commission.

Another 530 new suspected cases were reported Monday, said the commission.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 77,658 by the end of Monday, and 2,663 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 2,824 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

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The commission said 641,742 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 15,758 were discharged from medical observation Monday, with 87,902 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Monday, 81 confirmed cases including two deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 30 in Taiwan including one death.

Nineteen patients in Hong Kong, six in Macao and five in Taiwan have been discharged from hospital after recovery.