Two women wearing face masks dance at a park in Beijing on December 22, 2020. (WANG ZHAO / AFP)

BEIJING - The Chinese mainland on Wednesday reported 17 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, including six locally transmitted cases in northeast China's Liaoning province, the National Health Commission said Thursday.

Eleven of the new COVID-19 cases arrived from outside of the mainland, including six in Shanghai, two in Sichuan, and one each in Liaoning, Henan and Guangdong, the commission said in its daily report.

Eleven of the new COVID-19 cases arrived from outside of the mainland, including six in Shanghai, two in Sichuan, and one each in Liaoning, Henan and Guangdong, the National Health Commission said in its daily report

No new suspected cases or deaths related to COVID-19 were reported Wednesday.

Twenty-two COVID-19 patients on the Chinese mainland were discharged from hospitals following recovery on Wednesday.

By the end of Wednesday, a total of 4,174 imported cases had been reported on the mainland. Among them, 3,900 had been discharged from hospitals following recovery, and 274 remained hospitalized. No deaths had been reported among imported cases.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland reached 86,899 by Wednesday, including 315 patients still receiving treatment, six of whom were in severe conditions.

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A total of 81,950 patients had been discharged following recovery on the mainland, and 4,634 had died as a result of the virus, according to the commission.

There were no suspected COVID-19 cases on the mainland on Wednesday, and 7,488 close contacts remained under medical observation.

Wednesday saw 19 asymptomatic cases newly reported, 14 of them arriving from outside the mainland. On the same day, six new asymptomatic cases were re-categorized as confirmed cases.

A total of 229 asymptomatic cases were under medical observation, of whom 187 arrived from outside the mainland.  

By the end of Wednesday, 8,353 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 133 deaths, had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 46 cases in the Macao SAR, and 776 cases, including seven deaths, in Taiwan.

A total of 7,112 COVID-19 patients in the Hong Kong SAR had been discharged from hospitals following recovery, 46 in the Macao SAR, and 635 in Taiwan. 

Two communities in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning, were upgraded to medium-risk areas for COVID-19 after a new case was reported, the city headquarters in charge of pandemic prevention and control said on Thursday.

Both communities are in Yuhong District, where the patient and her close contacts live. The woman who returned from the Republic of Korea on Nov 29 tested positive for the virus on Wednesday after being released from two weeks of medical isolation. 

In Beijing, residents of the city's Lianzhu Garden community underwent nucleic acid testing after a man living there was found to be an asymptomatic carrier of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday.

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The government of Shunyi District said the community was immediately placed under closed management and its nearly 2,000 residents testing and are waiting for the results.

All residents in the apartment building of the asymptomatic case have been asked to stay home and thorough disinfection is being carried out in the residential compound's public space.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, EVA Airways Corp sacked a New Zealand pilot after he was blamed for the infection of his female friend, the island’s first locally transmitted case of COVID-19 since April 12.

The pilot, who was confirmed to have been infected earlier this week having flown routes to the United States, had not reported all his contacts and the places he had been, nor worn a face mask in the cockpit when he should have.

EVA Air said a meeting of its discipline committee determined that the pilot had contravened regulations and they decided to terminate him, effective immediately.

Meanwhile, an annual New Year celebration at the northeastern tip of the island was canceled after the first local virus case since April was reported.

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The event, to watch the sun rise on the first day of the year, was due to take place in the coastal town of Fulong. Other New Year’s Eve celebrations, including fireworks in Taipei, are still taking place, though with masks mandated for attendees.