Beijing, Feb 10 (IANS): The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak has claimed over 900 lives in China, authorities said on Monday, while the number of confirmed cases has exceeded 40,000.

According to the data from China's National Health Commission, 97 more deaths and 3,062 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection were reported on Sunday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Xinhua reported.

Among the deaths, 91 were in Hubei Province, two in Anhui, one each in Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Hainan and Gansu provinces respectively, according to China's National Health Commission.

Another 4,008 new suspected cases were reported on Sunday, said the commission.

Also on Sunday, 296 patients became seriously ill, while 632 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 40,171 until midnight, and 908 people had died of the disease.

The commission added that 6,484 patients remained in severe condition, and 23,589 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 3,281 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The commission said 399,487 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 29,307 were discharged from medical observation Sunday, with 187,518 others still under medical observation.

By the end of Sunday, 36 confirmed cases including one death had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 18 in Taiwan.

One patient in Macao and one in Taiwan have been discharged from hospital after recovery.