Chinese mainland reports 2,388 new local COVID-19 cases

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland on Thursday reported 2,388 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, up from 1,226 on Wednesday, the National Health Commission said Friday.

Of the new local infections, 1,834 were reported in the province of Jilin, 113 in Fujian, 74 in Guangdong, and 61 in Tianjin and Shandong respectively.

The rest of the cases were reported in 16 other provincial-level regions, including Shanghai and Liaoning.

A total of 73 imported COVID-19 cases were reported Thursday, said the commission in its daily report.

Six new suspected cases, all arriving from outside the mainland, were reported in Shanghai, said the commission. No deaths from COVID-19 were reported on the day.

Thursday also saw 1,904 asymptomatic cases, including 1,742 local ones, according to the commission.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on the mainland, both local and imported, had risen to 126,234 by Thursday.

Following the recovery of 337 patients on Thursday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases currently undergoing treatment stood at 16,974. A total of 4,636 patients had died of the virus on the mainland since the outbreak of the disease.