The last patient with the novel coronavirus pneumonia in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region was pronounced cured and discharged from a designated hospital on March 19, according to local officials – marking a great victory in the region’s control of and fight against the outbreak.

Sun Dejun, dean of the People’s Hospital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said that as of March 19, 74 patients confirmed with the virus in Inner Mongolia had been cured and released from hospitals and one death was reported.

Among the confirmed cases, the oldest patient was 86 years old and the youngest patient was 17 months old. They also included one pregnant woman.

The average hospital stay of the patients was 22.7 days and the cure rate was 98.7 percent. Of the 74 confirmed patients, nine were diagnosed as critically ill and 12 were diagnosed as severe; the critical rate was 28 percent.

Local health officials said there were no infections among local medical workers and 847 members of Inner Mongolia medical teams heading to support the seriously hit Hubei province in Central China.

At present, 53 traced close contacts are still under medical observation, 20 in Hohhot, four in Baotou, two in Hulunbuir, three in Tongliao, 10 in Chifeng, one in Xilin Gol League, eight in Ordos, one in Wuhai and four in Alxa League.

They are all the close contacts of confirmed cases from within Inner Mongolia or imported overseas cases.

The hospital dean said that although the confirmed cases were officially "cleared", the virus prevention and control work was still continuing. For discharged patients, health management and follow-up work should still be done, he added.

Rehabilitated patients will also undergo medical observation for two weeks after their discharge and receive follow-up reviews of nucleic acid tests after intervals of two weeks, four weeks, three months and half a year after discharge.

The health check will also include a computed tomography test of patients’ chests, blood routines, biochemical levels and blood oxygen saturation.

Officials said the prevention of imported virus cases was also a top priority for Inner Mongolia.