BEIJING — China's health authorities said on March 11 that the rapid development of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak outside China has brought uncertainty to the domestic epidemic prevention work.

The Chinese mainland reported 11 new confirmed cases of the COVID-19 on March 10 outside Hubei province, the center of the outbreak. Of them, 10 cases were imported from outside the mainland, said Mi Feng, an official with the National Health Commission at a press conference.

The Chinese mainland saw a total of 79 imported COVID-19 cases as of the end of March 10, Mi added.

According to Mi, the total number of newly confirmed cases and suspected cases nationwide has remained in double digits for five consecutive days, with only two newly confirmed indigenous cases outside Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei, in the last five days.

"The epidemic situation continues developing toward a good prospect," said Mi.

But the epidemic prevention and control work remained arduous as the numbers of confirmed cases in Hubei and Wuhan were still high, Mi stressed.

Hubei reported 13 new confirmed cases on March 10, all of which were in Wuhan, and 22 deaths, 19 of which were in Wuhan.