Chinese mainland reports 8 new confirmed COVID-19 cases

BEIJING, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authority said Sunday that it received reports of eight new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Saturday, of which two were domestically transmitted.

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

One new suspected case from overseas was reported in Shanghai, and no deaths related to the disease were reported Saturday, according to the commission.

On Saturday, seven people were discharged from hospitals after recovery.

As of Saturday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 83,553, including 403 patients who were still being treated.

Altogether 78,516 people had been discharged after recovery, and 4,634 had died of the disease, the commission said.

Six new imported cases -- three in Gansu Province, one in Tianjin, one in Shanghai and one in Sichuan Province -- were reported Saturday, bringing the total number of imported cases to 1,931. Of the cases, 1,863 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 68 remained hospitalized. No deaths from the imported cases had been reported.

The commission said seven people, including three from overseas, were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

According to the commission, 4,201 close contacts were still under medical observation after 1,072 people were discharged from medical observation Saturday.

Also on Saturday, seven new asymptomatic cases, all from overseas, were reported on the mainland and one asymptomatic case was re-categorized as confirmed one.

The commission said 99 asymptomatic cases, including 63 from overseas, were still under medical observation.

By Saturday, 1,258 confirmed cases including seven deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 46 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 449 in Taiwan including seven deaths.

A total of 1,145 patients in the Hong Kong SAR, 45 in the Macao SAR, and 438 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.