China's health authority said Thursday that it received reports of 15,152 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection and 254 deaths Wednesday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
Among the deaths, 242 were in Hubei, two in Henan, and one in Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Shandong, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, respectively.
Another 2,807 new suspected cases were reported Wednesday, said the National Health Commission (NHC).
Also on Wednesday, seriously ill patients decreased by 174, while 1,171 people were discharged from hospitals after recovery.
There were 52,526 confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland at the end of Wednesday, and 1,367 people had died of the disease by the end of the day.
The commission added that 8,030 patients remained in severe condition, and 13,435 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.
A total of 5,911 people had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.
The commission said 471,531 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 29,429 were discharged from medical observation Wednesday, with 181,386 others still under medical observation.
▌国家卫健委回应湖北确诊病例激增
国家卫生健康委新闻发言人、宣传司副司长米锋13日在国务院联防联控机制发布会上对12日湖北确诊病例大幅增加的情况作出回应。
米锋表示,在国家卫生健康委办公厅、国家中医药管理局办公室印发的《新型冠状病毒感染的肺炎诊疗方案(试行第五版)》中,对湖北省以及湖北省以外其他省份的病例诊断标准进行了区分,增加了临床诊断病例分类。
对疑似病例具有肺炎影像学特征者,确定为临床诊断病例,以便患者能按照确诊病例相关的要求接受规范化治疗,进一步提高救治成功率。
目前,湖北省报告的13332临床诊断病例纳入确诊病例统计。
The confirmed cases included 13,332 clinically diagnosed cases in Hubei Province, according to Mi Feng, a spokesperson with the NHC.
In line with the latest version of the diagnosis and treatment scheme released by the NHC, suspected cases in Hubei with pneumonia-related computerized tomography (CT) scan results are identified as clinically diagnosed cases, said Mi, explaining why the confirmed COVID-19 cases soared on Wednesday.
The diagnosis criteria revision, which only applies to Hubei, was made to give clinically diagnosed patients in the province timely and standard treatment to further improve the recovery rate, according to the NHC.
By the end of Wednesday, 50 confirmed cases had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR and 18 in Taiwan.

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