People wearing face masks walk on Kunming city's Nanqiang street, in Yunnan province, on March 15, 2020. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING - Chinese authorities on Monday suggested that residents on the mainland not travel abroad amid the COVID-19 outbreak, especially to countries hit hard by the pandemic.

The suggestion was made by officials with the National Health Commission and the National Immigration Administration at a press conference.

As of Sunday, over 140 countries and regions worldwide have reported confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Earlier in the day, China's health authority said it received reports of 16 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the Chinese mainland on Sunday, of which 12 were imported cases.

Fourteen deaths were reported on the mainland on Sunday, the National Health Commission added.

All of the deaths were in Hubei province, according to the commission.

By the end of Sunday, 123 imported cases had been reported, said the National Health Commission

Hubei reported four new confirmed cases on Sunday, all of which were in Wuhan, the provincial health commission said Monday.

As of Sunday, Hubei had seen no newly confirmed COVID-19 cases for 11 consecutive days in its 16 cities and prefectures outside Wuhan. The city of Wuhan has also seen single-digit daily increases for five days.

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Meanwhile, 41 new suspected cases were reported, said the National Health Commission.

Also on Sunday, 838 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 194 to 3,032.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,860 by the end of Sunday, including 9,898 patients who were still being treated, 67,749 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,213 people who died of the disease.

The commission said that 134 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

The commission added that 9,582 close contacts were still under medical observation. On Sunday, 1,316 people were discharged from medical observation.

Twelve imported cases were reported on the mainland Sunday. Among them, four were reported in Beijing, four in Guangdong province, two in Shanghai, one in Yunnan province and one in Gansu province. By the end of Sunday, 123 imported cases had been reported, said the commission.

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In Hubei, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases had reached 67,798.

The province also saw 816 patients discharged from hospital after recovery on Sunday, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the province to 55,094.

Among the 8,703 hospitalized patients, 2,403 were still in severe condition and another 572 in critical condition.

The provincial healh commission said Hubei still had 18 suspected cases, after ruling out two suspected cases but including two newly-added suspected cases Sunday.

By the end of Sunday, 148 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 59 in Taiwan including one death.

A total of 84 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macao and 20 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospital after recovery.