BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The proportion of patients who recovered from the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) in China had increased to 10.6 percent on Tuesday from the lowest 1.3 percent on Jan. 27, Mi Feng, an official with the National Health Commission (NHC), said Wednesday.

The number of cured patients had seen relatively rapid growth, and the epidemic situation also had some positive changes in general due to the country's reinforced measures against the virus, Mi said at a press conference in Beijing.

The reported number of new cases of the disease wavered but showed a downward trend, Mi said.

The number of new confirmed cases had dropped from a peak of 3,887 on Feb. 4 to Tuesday's 2,015, according to Mi.

Outside Hubei Province, the epicenter, China's new confirmed cases of COVID-19 has been dropping for eight consecutive days, the NHC said.

The number of new suspected cases had also fallen from the highest 5,328 on Feb. 5 to 3,342 on Tuesday, Mi said, adding that the numbers of new confirmed cases and new suspected cases had declined by 48.2 percent and 37.3 percent, respectively.

According to official statistics, Tuesday saw a total of 744 people discharged from hospitals after recovery, including 417 in Hubei Province, and by the end of the day, a total of 4,740 people had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.