BEIJING — Chinese health authority said on Aug 16 that it received reports of 19 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland on Aug 15, including four locally transmitted ones in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The remaining 15 cases were imported ones from outside the Chinese mainland, the National Health Commission said in its daily report.

One new suspected COVID-19 case, also imported from outside the mainland, was reported in Fujian province, and no deaths related to the disease were reported on Aug 15, the commission said.

Of the imported cases, five were reported in Shanghai, three each in Guangdong and Shaanxi, two in Tianjin, and one each in Fujian and Sichuan, the commission said.

On Aug 15, 56 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery, the commission said.

By the end of Aug 15, a total of 2,278 imported cases had been reported on the mainland. Of them, 2,094 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 184 remained hospitalized, with no case in serious condition. No deaths from the imported cases had been reported.

As of Aug 15, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland had reached 84,827, including 618 patients who were still being treated, with 34 in severe conditions.

Altogether 79,575 people had been discharged after recovery, and 4,634 had died of the disease on the mainland, the commission said.

There were still three suspected COVID-19 cases on the mainland, it added.

According to the commission, 19,933 close contacts were still under medical observation after 1,290 were discharged on Aug 15.

Also on Aug 15, 16 new asymptomatic cases, including 11 from outside the mainland, were reported, and one asymptomatic case was re-categorized as a confirmed one.

The commission said 319 asymptomatic cases, including 176 from outside the mainland, were still under medical observation.

By Aug 15, 4,406 confirmed cases including 69 deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), together with 46 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR and 482 cases including seven deaths in Taiwan.

A total of 3,488 COVID-19 patients in the Hong Kong SAR, 46 in the Macao SAR, and 450 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.