The Chinese mainland had confirmed a total of 4,515 infection cases of the novel coronavirus by Monday midnight, including 1,771 new confirmations, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.

By the end of Monday, there had been 4,515 confirmed infections of the highly contagious pneumonia on the mainland as well as eight in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, seven in the Macao SAR and five in Taiwan, the commission said on its website.

The number of patients with serious symptoms reached 976 on the mainland on Monday.

It added that 6,973 people on the mainland are highly likely to have been infected with the coronavirus, provisionally called 2019-nCoV. Sixty patients had been cured and released from the hospital by the end of Monday.

All of the provincial-level regions, except the Tibet autonomous region, have reported infections in their jurisdiction.

Twenty-six patients with the pneumonia, which was first reported in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, died on Monday, bringing the death toll to 106 on the mainland, according to the commission.

Health authorities across the mainland have traced 47,833 people who have met face-to-face with infected people. A total of 44,132 of them are under medical observation, according to the commission.

In Hubei, the most affected province in the respiratory disease outbreak, the number of confirmed infections increased by 1,291 on Monday, and the death toll rose by 24 in the province.

By the end of Monday, Hubei had reported 2,714 confirmed infections including 100 deaths, the provincial health commission said on Tuesday.

Currently 2,567 people are hospitalized in Hubei. Among them, 563 patients have serious symptoms and another 69 people are in critical condition, it noted.