New confirmed coronavirus infections drop by nearly half in China: spokesperson

The number of daily new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection fell from a peak of 3,887 on February 4 to 2,015 on Tuesday, with a decrease of 48.2 percent, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).

Noting that the epidemic situation remains grave at the moment, NHC spokesperson Mi Feng identified some positive changes in the statistics as a result of a series of effective measures.

For example, the number of newly reported suspected cases dropped by 37.3 percent from 5,328 on February 5 to Tuesday's 3,342.

He also highlighted the rapid increase in the number of people cured and discharged from hospitals, bringing the recovery rate to 10.6 percent by Tuesday from the lowest level of 1.3 percent on January 27.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland reached 44,653 by the end of Tuesday, and 16,067 people remain suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 4,740 people had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.