Chinese health authorities announced Tuesday that 3,996 patients infected with the novel coronavirus have been discharged from hospital after recovery.
The number of cured patients was as at Monday.
Monday saw 716 people walk out of the hospital after recovery, including 427 in Hubei Province, the National Health Commission said in its daily report.
By the end of Monday, a total of 1,016 people had died of the disease and 42,638 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China.
The figures were announced as President Xi Jinping called for more “decisive” measures to tackle the outbreak in a rare visit to a frontline hospital.
The Chinese president donned a face mask and had his temperature checked while visiting medical workers and patients affected by the deadly coronavirus that has killed at least 1,011 people.
The fatalities soared after hardest-hit Hubei province — the epicentre of the outbreak — reported another 103 deaths on Tuesday, the highest single-day toll since the virus emerged.
At a hospital treating infected patients in Beijing, Xi on Monday called the situation at the epicentre “still very grave” and “more decisive measures” to contain the spread of the virus, said state broadcaster CCTV.
Xi has largely kept out of the public eye since the virus outbreak spiralled across the country from Hubei province to infect more than 42,000 people.
He appointed Premier Li Keqiang to lead a group tackling the outbreak and it was Li who visited ground zero in Wuhan last month.
On Monday, Xi put on a blue mask and white surgical gown to meet doctors at Beijing Ditan hospital, observe the treatment of patients and speak via video link to doctors in Wuhan, state media said.
He then visited a residential community in central Beijing to “investigate and guide” efforts to contain the epidemic, said CCTV.
Video footage showed Xi having his temperature taken with an infrared thermometer then speaking with community workers and waving at smiling residents leaning out of apartment windows.
The outbreak has prompted unprecedented action by the Chinese government, including locking down entire cities in Hubei as well as cutting transport links nationwide, closing tourist attractions and telling hundreds of millions of people to stay indoors.
The sweeping measures have turned cities into ghost towns — but there were some signs of normality returning as many went back to work this week.
Roads in Beijing and the financial hub of Shanghai had significantly more traffic, while the southern city of Guangzhou said it would start to resume normal public transport.
However, many of those returning to work were uneasy.
“Of course we’re worried,” said a 25-year-old man surnamed Li in a Beijing beauty salon that reopened Monday.
