BEIJING — China's daily number of newly recovered novel coronavirus patients has surpassed that of new confirmed infections for the first time, according to the National Health Commission.

Feb 18 saw 1,824 people walk out of hospital after recovery, higher than the same day's number of new confirmed infections of the novel coronavirus, which was 1,749, showed figures from the commission on Feb 19.

A total of 14,376 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Feb 18.

The number of new confirmed cases in China outside Hubei, the epicenter province of the outbreak, has dropped for 15 straight days. A total of 56 new confirmed cases were reported on Feb 18 outside Hubei, sharply down from 890 on Feb 3, according to the commission.

The commission said it received reports of 1,749 new confirmed cases on Feb 18 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, including 1,693 in Hubei.

China's daily new confirmed cases dropped to 1,886 on Feb 17, for the first time under 2,000 since Jan 31.