The Chinese health authority said Friday it received reports of 26 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Thursday, of which 15 were imported.

Among the 11 new domestic cases, five were from Guangdong Province in south China, three from Heilongjiang Province and one from Liaoning Province of the northeast, and two from Shandong Province in the east, said the National Health Commission in a daily report.

It also said there were three new domestic suspected cases, two from Heilongjiang and one from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

On Thursday, 52 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospital after recovery, and 412 people who were close contacts with confirmed cases were removed from medical observation, while the number of severe cases decreased by six.

The existing imported cases numbered 879 with 45 in severe conditions, plus 57 suspected cases. By Thursday, the Chinese mainland had reported a total of 1,549 imported cases with zero death. Of the imported cases, 670 had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

Up to 24:00 Thursday, a total of 1,081 cases were still being treated in hospitals on the Chinese mainland, and 89 of which were in severe conditions.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 82,367 by the end of Thursday, with 77,944 patients having been discharged after recovery. The mainland also reported a total 3,342 deaths, and traced a total of 722,909 close contacts, of which 8,970 people were still under medical observation.

Hubei Province saw no new confirmed cases; another 17 patients, all from Wuhan, were discharged from hospital after recovery, with zero new death of the disease, the commission said.

The province still has 129 confirmed cases in Wuhan. Among them, 32 are in severe conditions.

The commission said that 66 new asymptomatic infections with COVID-19 were reported on Thursday. Three of them were travelers from abroad. Ten of the 66 asymptomatic cases turned into confirmed cases on the same day.

The commission added that 50 people who were asymptomatic cases were removed from medical observation on the day, but there are 1,038 cases of asymptomatic infection -- including 206 from abroad -- still undergoing medical observation.

By the end of Thursday, 1,017 confirmed cases with four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 45 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR with no death, and 395 in the Taiwan region including six deaths.