File photo: Cured patients on a bus wave goodbye to medical workers in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 8, 2020. /Xinhua

WUHAN, May 3 (Xinhua) -- No new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported in central China's Hubei Province Saturday, the provincial health commission said Sunday.

This marks that Hubei, the once hardest hit Chinese province, has had no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for 29 consecutive days since April 4.

Hubei was cleared of confirmed COVID-19 cases on April 26.

The province reported 651 asymptomatic cases under medical observation, after nine such cases were added and five released from quarantine Saturday.

A total of 282,632 close contacts of COVID-19 patients in the province had been tracked by Saturday, 1,383 of whom were still under medical observation.

Hubei has so far reported 68,128 confirmed COVID-19 cases in total, including 50,333 in Wuhan, the provincial capital.