New infections of the novel coronavirus remained at zero in the hardest-hit city Wuhan during the past week while all the new cases were imported, the National Health Commission said on Friday.

As of Thursday midnight, Chinese mainland reported 39 new infections, bringing the total number of cases to 80,967.

To date, 228 imported infections have been reported.

New imported infections in the past 24 hours were found in 12 regions, including Shanghai, Guangdong, Beijing, Tianjin, as well as Zhejiang and Sichuan province.

As of Thursday midnight, the commission reported three new deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,248.

Of the new deaths, two were in Hubei and the other one was in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

The commission also reported 31 new suspected cases. On the same day, a total of 730 people were discharged from hospitals after recovering.

The commission added that the number of patients in severe condition fell by 178 in the past 24 hours.

It also revealed that 684,331 close contacts had been traced as of Thursday midnight. Also, 1,197 were discharged from medical observation in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, another 8,989 close contacts are still under medical observation.

Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have reported a total of 333 confirmed cases, with four deaths in Hong Kong and one death in Taiwan, according to the commission.

In Hubei, the total confirmed cases reached 67,800 by Thursday. Of them, about three quarters were reported in its capital Wuhan.

The total death toll in the province has risen to 3,132, said the commission.

It also reported 703 new recovered cases in the province on the same day. A total of 2,098 patients are still in severe condition.