Chen Yali, a medical worker from Wuhan No 1 Hospital, takes a picture of drawings on the wall left by her colleagues in Leishenshan makeshift hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Wednesday. The Chinese characters read "Stay strong, Wuhan". The walls along the corridors in the makeshift hospital have become an important venue for hospital staff to express their thoughts and wishes. [Photo/Xinhua]

Daily new infections of COVID-19 continued a downward trend on Saturday, and regions outside Hubei province, the center of the outbreak, reported only three further cases - all of them imported.

In Hubei, areas outside its provincial capital, Wuhan, reported no cases for the third straight day, as the latest data update shows.

With an increase of 44 newly-confirmed cases over the course of Saturday, the number of people who have contracted novel coronavirus on the Chinese mainland swelled to 80,695, according to the National Health Commission.

A total of 3,097 people have succumbed to the virus and 27 died on Saturday, as data released by the commission on Sunday morning shows.

All but three of the new cases were reported from Hubei. The province also is where the additional fatalities occurred.

The commission also said 1,661 people were discharged from hospitals on Saturday, bringing the number of recovered Chinese mainland patients up to 57,065.

With a reduction of 225 patients exhibiting serious symptoms over the course of Saturday, the number of such patients now stands at 5,264. In total, 20,533 patients are still hospitalized.

There are now 458 suspected infections on the Chinese mainland, with 84 of them counted on Saturday.

Among the 674,038 people who have so far been traced for their close contact with infected patients, 23,074 are still under medical observation, it said.

In Hubei, another 41 cases were counted over the course of Saturday for a total of 67,707 in the province, the commission said.

The disease had claimed 2,986 lives in the province as of Saturday at midnight and 27 people succumbed on that day, it said.

Wuhan reported all of the newly-confirmed cases and most of the fatalities.

The total number of confirmed cases in Wuhan now stands at 49,912. With 21 further deaths, the number of fatalities in the city has reached 2,370.

The Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions and Taiwan province reported a total of 164 confirmed cases as of Saturday at midnight, including two deaths in Hong Kong and one 1 in Taiwan, the commission noted.

Meanwhile, 78 patients in these regions have been discharged from hospitals.