China reports no new domestic COVID-19 case for 2nd day

China reported no new domestically transmitted novel coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day on Friday, marking a major turning point in the global battle against the COVID-19 outbreak.

China's National Health Commission said it received reports of 39 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland on Thursday, all of which were imported from overseas, Xinhua reported.

Of them, 14 were reported in Guangdong Province, eight in Shanghai, six in Beijing and three in Fujian Province. Provincial-level regions of Tianjin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangxi, Sichuan and Gansu each reported one case. Until midnight, 228 imported cases had been reported, said the commission.

Also on Thursday, three deaths and 31 newly suspected cases were reported on the mainland with two of the deaths reported in Hubei Province and the third one reported in Liaoning Province.

On Thursday, 730 people were discharged from the hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 178 to 2,136.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,967 until midnight, including 6,569 patients who were still being treated, 71,150 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,248 people who lost their lives due to the outbreak.

The commission said that 104 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

The commission added that 8,989 close contacts were still under medical observation. On Thursday, 1,197 people were discharged from medical observation.

Until midnight, as many as 208 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 17 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 108 in Taiwan including one death.

A total of 98 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macao and 26 in Taiwan were discharged from the hospital after recovery on Thursday.