BEIJING, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authority said Saturday it received reports of 427 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 47 deaths on Friday on the Chinese mainland.

Among the deaths, 45 were in Hubei Province, one in Beijing and Henan respectively, according to the National Health Commission.

Another 248 new suspected cases were reported Friday, said the commission.

Also on Friday, 2,885 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 288 to 7,664.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 79,251 by the end of Friday, and 2,835 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 1,418 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 39,002 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said 658,587 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 10,193 were discharged from medical observation Friday, with 58,233 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Friday, 94 confirmed cases including two deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 34 in Taiwan including one death.

Thirty patients in Hong Kong, eight in Macao and nine in Taiwan had been discharged from hospital after recovery.