BEIJING, Jan. 26 -- Chinese health authorities announced Sunday that 1,975 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), including 324 in critical conditions, had been reported in the country by the end of Saturday.

During the past 24 hours, 688 new confirmed cases, 1,309 new suspected cases and 15 deaths from the disease (13 in Hubei, one in Shanghai and one in Henan) were reported, according to the National Health Commission.

By Saturday, the pneumonia situation had resulted in a total of 56 deaths, while 49 people had recovered and 2,684 remained as suspected patients.

A total of 23,431 close contacts have been traced, the commission said, adding that among them, 21,556 were under medical observation while 325 others were discharged on Saturday.

In addition, ten confirmed cases had been reported in Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan, with five in Hong Kong, two in Macao and three in Taiwan.

Overseas, confirmed cases were reported in Thailand (4 including 2 cured), Japan (2 including 1 cured), the Republic of Korea (2), the United States (2), Vietnam (2), Singapore (3), Malaysia (3), Nepal (1), France (3) and Australia (1).