Chinese mainland reports 1,656 new local COVID-19 cases

BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland on Saturday reported 1,656 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, down from 2,157 on Friday, the National Health Commission said Sunday.

Of the new local infections, 1,191 were reported in the province of Jilin, 158 in Fujian, 51 in Shandong, 51 in Guangdong, and 39 in Liaoning respectively.

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

A total of 81 imported COVID-19 cases were reported Saturday, said the commission in its daily report.

No new deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Saturday, said the commission, adding that three new suspected cases were reported on the day.

Saturday also saw the reporting of 2,316 asymptomatic cases, including 2,177 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 130,199 by Saturday.

Following the recovery of 337 patients on Saturday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases currently undergoing treatment stood at 19,986. A total of 4,638 patients had died of the virus on the mainland since the outbreak of the disease.