China reports 253 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, with 194 in Shanghai

The Chinese mainland reported 253 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, of which 194 were in Shanghai, according to the National Health Commission's report Saturday.

Apart from Shanghai, 12 other provincial-level regions on the mainland saw new local COVID-19 cases, including 32 in Beijing, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Shanghai also reported 1,487 locally-transmitted asymptomatic infections of the novel coronavirus on Friday, out of a total of 1,726 local asymptomatic carriers newly identified on the mainland.

A total of 866 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery on the Chinese mainland on Friday, the NHC said, as per Xinhua.

That brought the mainland's total number of COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals after recovery to 210,006 as of Friday.

One new death from COVID-19 was reported in Shanghai, according to the NHC.

Meanwhile, China refuted the reports of imposing three days lockdown in Beijing amid the coronavirus outbreak.

However, authorities said that locals are suggested to stay at home and take nucleic acid testing in the following three days.

Pang Xinghuo, an official from the Beijing health authority said that Beijing reported 36 COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, Global Times reported, adding that among whom 32 were discovered in areas under management and four outside those areas.