Chinese mainland reports 2,157 new local COVID-19 cases

BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland on Friday reported 2,157 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, down from 2,388 on Thursday, the National Health Commission said Saturday.

Of the new local infections, 1,674 were reported in the province of Jilin, 199 in Fujian, 69 in Liaoning, 47 in Guangdong, and 42 in Shandong respectively.

The rest of the cases were reported in 15 other provincial-level regions, including Tianjin and Gansu.

A total of 71 imported COVID-19 cases were reported Friday, said the commission in its daily report.

Two new deaths from COVID-19 were reported in Jilin on Friday, said the commission, adding that no new suspected cases were reported on the day.

Friday also saw the reporting of 1,823 asymptomatic cases, including 1,713 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 128,462 by Friday.

Following the recovery of 614 patients on Friday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases currently undergoing treatment stood at 18,586. A total of 4,638 patients had died of the virus on the mainland since the outbreak of the disease.