BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authorities announced Thursday that 7,711 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps by the end of Wednesday. A total of 170 people have died of the disease.

The National Health Commission said in its daily report that 1,370 patients remained in critical conditions, and 12,167 people were suspected of being infected with the virus as of the end of Wednesday.

A total of 124 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

Wednesday saw 1,737 new confirmed cases, including the first confirmed case in Tibet Autonomous Region, 4,148 new suspected cases, and 38 deaths -- 37 in Hubei Province and one in Sichuan Province.

Also on Wednesday, 131 patients became seriously ill, and 21 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.

A total of 88,693 close contacts had been traced, the commission said, adding that among them, 2,364 were discharged from medical observation on Wednesday, with 81,947 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Wednesday, 10 confirmed cases had been reported in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, seven in Macao Special Administrative Region and eight in Taiwan.