China logs 35,909 new Covid cases in a day, third consecutive daily record

China reported a high number of COVID-19 cases on Friday, setting a record for daily infections, for the third day in a row, media reports said.

35,909 cases were reported including 3,405 locally transmitted cases and 31,504 local asymptomatic cases, state media Xinhua reported. The latest figure excluded the imported cases.

Friday saw no new deaths from COVID-19, with the total death toll at 5,232.

A day earlier, China recorded 32,695 new local cases on Thursday, which included 3,041 symptomatic cases and 29,654 asymptomatic cases. According to the Reuters news agency, Thursday's new local COVID-19 infections set a daily record, beating a figure set in mid-April.

Prior to that, China on Wednesday recorded the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases, since the start of the pandemic.

"Chinese mainland reported 3,927 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, and 27,517 new local asymptomatic cases," the state media outlet Global Times (GT) reported. According to Reuters, the latest number broke the previous record set on April 13, when the cases hit 29, 317.

On Monday, China's top health official said that country is facing the 'most complicated and severest anti-epidemic situation' since the emergence of coronavirus.

Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was quoted as saying by GT that China is at the 'most critical and toughest moment' of fighting coronavirus.