Students listen during a lesson at Beijing National Day School - Longyue in Haidian district in Beijing, capital of China, May 11, 2020. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING/SHANGHAI/URUMQI/DALIAN - Chinese health authorities said Monday that they received reports of 49 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Sunday, including 35 imported cases and 14 locally transmitted ones.

All the 14 fresh local cases were reported in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the National Health Commission said in its daily report. All of them were posted in the regional capital Urumqi, according to the local authorities.

Fourteen out of the 49 fresh infections were local cases reported in Xinjiang while the other 35 were imported cases, with Shanghai posting the bulk of them with 15 new cases

Eighteen out of the 35 new imported cases were reported in Shanghai while the provinces of Shandong and Sichuan each saw four such cases, Guangdong and Shaanxi provinces reported two cases each, Liaoning province posted two cases and Zhejiang province reported one case, the commission said.

All the fresh imported cases in Shanghai involve Chinese nationals returning to the country from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

No deaths related to the disease were reported while one new suspected imported case was reported in Shanghai.

ALSO READ: Regional virus outbreaks controlled

The commission said that another 64 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery, adding that there were 802 patients still being treated, including 41 in severe condition.

As of Sunday, a total of 84,668 confirmed cases had been reported on the mainland, including 4,634 deaths and 79,232 recoveries.

So far, a total of 2,169 imported cases had been reported on the mainland, of which 2,037 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery while 132 remained hospitalized, with one in severe condition, the commission said. No deaths had been reported from imported cases. 

READ MORE: Tourists' safety high priority this summer vacation

There were still seven suspected cases, the commission said.

According to the commission, 2,305 close contacts were released from medical observation on Sunday, and there were 24,055 close contacts still under medical observation.

Dalian's government said lockdown management in all four medium-risk areas in the city have been lifted. The coastal city now has one high-risk zone

Thirty-one new asymptomatic cases, including seven in Urumqi and 24 from outside the mainland, were reported and three asymptomatic cases were re-categorized as confirmed cases.

The commission said 283 asymptomatic cases, including 136 from outside the mainland, were still under medical observation. 

By Sunday, 4,079 confirmed cases, including 52 deaths, had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 46 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 477 cases, including seven deaths, in Taiwan.

A total of 2,847 COVID-19 patients in the Hong Kong SAR, 46 in the Macao SAR, and 441 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.

Lockdown lifted in medium-risk areas in Dalian

Dalian city in Liaoning province lifted the neighborhood lockdown policy in another medium-risk area from Monday after no new domestically transmitted cases were reported in the city for several days, local authorities said.

The city government said at a press conference that lockdown management in all four medium-risk areas of Dalian had been lifted after the adjustment. The coastal city now has one high-risk zone.

Schools in Beijing will begin to reopen for the autumn semester starting from Aug 29, according to a notice

Beijing schools to reopen from end Aug

Meanwhile on Sunday, education authorities in Beijing announced the dates for the reopening of schools in the capital city for the autumn semester.

Senior high schools will start the new semester on Aug 29, whereas primary schools and junior high schools will start their new school year on Aug 29, Sept 1 and Sept 7, according to a notice issued by the municipal leading group office for epidemic prevention and control.

Kindergartens will reopen on Sept 8 and Sept 11, according to the notice.

Colleges can decide their own time for students to check in or register starting from Aug 15 after getting approval from the epidemic prevention and control leading group and education authorities. 

ALSO READ: Students tell of testing times in Wuhan