BEIJING, Jan. 29 -- Chinese health authorities announced Wednesday that 5,974 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions by the end of Tuesday. A total of 132 people have died of the disease.

The National Health Commission said in its daily report that 1,239 patients remained in critical conditions, and 9,239 people were suspected of being infected with the virus as of the end of Tuesday.

A total of 103 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

Tuesday saw 1,459 new confirmed cases, 3,248 new suspected cases, including one in Tibet Autonomous Region, and 26 deaths -- 25 in Hubei Province and one in Henan Province.

Also on Tuesday, 263 patients were seriously ill, and 43 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.

A total of 65,537 close contacts had been traced, the commission said, adding that among them, 1,604 were discharged from medical observation on Tuesday, with 59,990 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Tuesday, eight confirmed cases had been reported in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, seven in Macao Special Administrative Region and eight in Taiwan.