Chinese mainland reports 21 new confirmed COVID-19 cases

Chinese health authority said Saturday it received reports of 21 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Friday, including 17 domestically transmitted and four imported ones.

All the domestically transmitted cases were reported in Beijing, the National Health Commission said in its daily report.

No deaths related to the disease were reported Friday, according to the commission.

As of Friday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 83,483, including 405 patients who were still being treated, with eight in severe conditions.

Altogether 78,444 people had been discharged from hospitals after recovery and 4,634 people had died of the disease, the commission said.

By Friday, the Chinese mainland had reported a total of 1,899 imported cases. Of the cases, 1,814 had been discharged after recovery, and 85 remained hospitalized, including one in severe condition. No deaths from the imported cases had been reported.

The commission said one new suspected imported case was reported Friday, bringing the total suspected cases to eight in the country.

According to the commission, 7,876 close contacts were still under medical observation after 791 people were discharged from medical observation Friday.

Twelve new asymptomatic cases, including eight imported, were reported on the mainland Friday, it said, adding that one asymptomatic case was re-categorized as a confirmed case.

The commission said 106 asymptomatic cases, including 64 imported, were still under medical observation.

By Friday, 1,196 confirmed cases including seven deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 46 confirmed cases in the Macau SAR, and 447 in Taiwan including seven deaths.

A total of 1,091 patients in the Hong Kong SAR, 45 in the Macau SAR, and 435 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.