This March 1, 2020 photo shows a couple walking at a shopping mall in Hefei, east China's Anhui province. (ZHOU MU / XINHUA)

BEIJING/WUHAN - China's daily new confirmed and suspected cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have seen an overall downward trend for two weeks, said a health official.

The daily number of discharged patients nationwide continues to show an upward trend, fluctuating around 3,000 in recent days, Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission, said at a press conference Monday.

Mi said the rapid rise of the epidemic in Wuhan has been contained, with the locala outbreaks in Hubei province outside Wuhan brought under control. He added that the epidemic situation outside Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, has shown positive signs.

Next, precise prevention and control measures will be implemented, with a focus on community prevention and control and medical treatment, to further improve the epidemic prevention work and coordinate it with economic and social development, he said.

The Chinese mainland reported six new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday outside Hubei, according to the commission Monday.

The commission said it received reports of 202 new confirmed cases on Sunday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and 42 deaths.

The National Commission said there were 202 new infections and 42 deaths reported on Sunday

A total of 196 new infections were reported in Hubei, where all the 42 deaths were reported.

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Meanwhile, 141 new suspected cases were reported, said the commission. Also on Sunday, 2,837 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 255 to 7,110.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,026 by the end of Sunday, including 32,652 patients who were still being treated, 44,462 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 2,912 people who had died of the disease.

The commission said that 715 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

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The commission added 46,219 close contacts were still under medical observation. On Sunday, 8,154 people were released from medical observation.

In Hubei, the overall confirmed cases had reached 67,103 and 2,803 deaths had been reported.

Wuhan, the provincial capital, reported 193 confirmed cases and 32 deaths on Sunday. In total, the city has registered 49,315 confirmed cases and 2,227 deaths.

Hubei province also saw 2,570 patients discharged from hospital after recovery on Sunday, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the province to 33,757. Among the 26,901 hospitalized patients, 5,646 were still in severe condition and another 1,226 in critical condition.

The provincial commission said Hubei had 527 suspected cases, after 199 suspected cases were ruled out while 80 new suspected cases were reported on Sunday.

By the end of Sunday, 98 confirmed cases including two deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 40 in Taiwan, including one death.

Thirty-six patients in Hong Kong, eight in Macao and 12 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospital after recovery.