A medical worker collects a throat swab from a man at a residential community in Tianshan district, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on July 19, 2020. (SHI YUJIANG / CHINA NEWS SERVICE)

The daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region started to decline during the weekend after increasing for eight consecutive days following the start of the latest outbreak on July 15.

In hard-hit Urumqi, the region's capital, the number of locally transmitted infections reported on Friday dropped to 31, a significant decline from the 111 confirmed cases the day before, and it remained stable on Saturday with 29 confirmed cases reported in the city, official figures show.

Rui Baoling, head of Urumqi's disease control and prevention center, said the situation is still severe and complicated and the region must remain vigilant

According to the region's health commission, as of Saturday, the total number of confirmed cases in Xinjiang was 569, with only four cases outside Urumqi. Among 112 asymptomatic carriers, only two are not in the capital.

The health commission also said 23 people who had confirmed infections had been discharged from hospitals after recovery and 14,640 people in Urumqi were under medical observation by Saturday.

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All of the confirmed and asymptomatic infections in the capital have received free medical treatment and services, an official said at a news conference on Sunday.

Rui Baoling, head of the city's disease control and prevention center, said the situation is still severe and complicated and the region must remain vigilant.

In Dalian, Liaoning province, large-scale nucleic acid testing work was extended to rural areas over the weekend after urban residents completed testing.

"By Friday, we had completed 4.48 million nucleic acid tests," Zhao Lian, deputy director of the Dalian health commission, told a news conference on Sunday.

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The city reported three new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday. The total number of confirmed cases with symptoms has risen to 79 since July 22, Zhao said.

A 1-month-old boy became the youngest infected person in the city.

"The baby is in stable condition and in good spirits," Zhao Guangdong, a member of the city's expert group for the treatment of COVID-19 infections, said on Saturday.

Zhao said the baby is being taken care of by medical staff and his mother, who also tested positive for the virus.

Contact the writers at aibek@chinadaily.com.cn