A resident wearing a face mask to protect herself from the coronavirus stands on a street in Beijing, capital of China, on Nov 24, 2020. (NG HAN GUAN / AP)

BEIJING/HOHHOT - China's National Health Commission said Thursday that it received reports of 21 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Wednesday, including nine domestically transmitted cases and 12 imported ones.

All the local infections were posted in Manzhouli, a border city in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, according to the commission and local health authorities.

An asymptomatic case and a suspected case were also reported from 7 am Wednesday to 7 am Thursday, local health authorites said, adding that a total of 443 close contacts have been put under quarantine.

The new cases were discovered after Manzhouli completed a citywide nucleic acid testing of 203,326 people. The city has confirmed 11 local cases, one asymptomatic case and two suspected cases, all of whom are receiving treatment at designated hospitals in the city. Epidemiological surveys and source tracing work regarding the cases are underway.

Of the 12 new imported cases, five were reported in Shanghai, four in Guangdong, and one each in Jiangsu, Fujian and Sichuan, the National Health Commission said

Meanwhile, among the new imported cases on the mainland, five were reported in Shanghai, four in Guangdong, and one each in Jiangsu, Fujian and Sichuan, the commission said in its daily report.

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The mainland also saw three new suspected cases, while no additional deaths related to the disease were reported, said the commission.

Another 20 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery, while 306 others were still being treated, including seven in severe condition, according to the commission.

As of Wednesday, a total of 3,821 imported cases had been reported on the mainland. Of those cases, 3,543 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery while 278 remained hospitalized. No deaths had been reported from the imported cases. 

Overall, the mainland had recorded 86,490 confirmed cases, including 81,550 recoveries and 4,634 deaths, according to the commission.

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There were currently five suspected cases on the mainland, while 10,768 close contacts were still under medical observation after 925 were released from observation.

Also on Wednesday, five new asymptomatic cases were reported, including four arriving from outside the mainland, while four asymptomatic cases were re-categorized as confirmed cases.

A total of 321 asymptomatic cases were under medical observation, with 317 arriving from outside the mainland.

By the end of Wednesday, 5,866 confirmed cases, including 108 deaths, had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), while Macao SAR had recorded 46 cases and Taiwan had reported 623 cases, including seven deaths.

A total of 5,295 patients in the Hong Kong SAR, 46 in Macao SAR and 553 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.