A total of 28,018 cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed on the Chinese mainland as of Wednesday, with 563 deaths, said China's National Health Commission (NHC).

The updated numbers follow 73 new deaths and 3,694 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, according to the NHC.

There were 261 new recovered cases on Wednesday, bringing the total cured patients to 1,153.

The number of confirmed cases in China's Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions (SARs) are as follows:

Hong Kong SAR: 21 (1 death)

Macao SAR: 10

Taiwan: 11