A cured coronavirus patient who has been released from medical observation gets off a bus before going home. In Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, March 12, 2020. (XIAO YIJIU / XINHUA)

BEIJING/WUHAN - China's health authority said Friday it received reports of eight new confirmed cases COVID-19 and seven deaths on the Chinese mainland on Thursday.

Among the eight new infections, five were reported in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei province and epicenter of the outbreak, and the remaining three cases were imported cases.

Of the three new imported cases, two were reported in Shanghai and one in Beijing, according to the National Health Commission.

As of Thursday, Hubei had seen no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for eight consecutive days in its 16 cities and prefectures outside Wuhan

By the end of Thursday, 88 imported cases had been reported, said the commission.

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Among the deaths, six were in Hubei province and one in Shandong province, according to the National Health Commission. 

As of Thursday, Hubei had seen no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for eight consecutive days in its 16 cities and prefectures outside Wuhan.

Meanwhile, 33 new suspected cases were reported, said the commission.

Also on Thursday, 1,318 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 237 to 4,020.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,813 by the end of Thursday, including 13,526 patients who were still being treated, 64,111 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,176 people who died of the disease.

Meanwhile, the National Health Commission said that 147 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

The commission added that 12,161 close contacts were still under medical observation. On Thursday, 2,483 people were released from medical observation.

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In Hubei, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases had reached  67,786. Wuhan had so far reported 49,991 confirmed cases and 2,436 deaths as of Thursday, according to the local health commission.

Hubei also saw 1,255 patients discharged from hospital after recovery on Thursday, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the province to 51,553.

Among the 11,808 hospitalized patients, 3,251 were still in severe condition and another 697 in critical condition.

The commission also said Hubei had 49 suspected cases.  

By the end of Thursday, 131 confirmed cases including three deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 49 in Taiwan including one death.

A total of 75 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macao and 20 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospital after recovery.