BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The daily number of newly cured and discharged novel coronavirus patients in Wuhan, the capital city of China's Hubei Province and the epicenter of the outbreak, has surpassed that of new confirmed infections for the first time, said a Chinese health official Friday.

China's number of newly cured and discharged patients in a single day exceeded 2,000 for the first time on Thursday, said Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission, at a press conference, adding that the cure rates in Wuhan, other parts of Hubei and other provincial-level regions in the country have continued to rise in the past week.