China reports 20,199 new COVID cases for Nov 15 vs 17,909 a day earlier

SHANGHAI, Nov 16 (Reuters) – China reported 20,199 new COVID-19 infections for Nov. 15, of which 1,623 were symptomatic and 18,576 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday.

That compared with 17,909 new cases a day earlier – 1,661 symptomatic and 16,248 asymptomatic, which China counts separately.

Excluding imported infections, China reported 20,059 new local cases of which 1,568 were symptomatic and 18,491 were asymptomatic, up from 17,772 a day earlier.

There were no new deaths, unchanged from a day earlier, keeping fatalities at 5,226.

As of Tuesday, mainland China had confirmed 277,043 cases with symptoms.

China’s capital Beijing reported 197 symptomatic and 174 asymptomatic cases, compared with 303 symptomatic and 159 asymptomatic the previous day, local government data showed.

Guangzhou, a city in the south of nearly 19 million people said, reported 158 new locally transmitted symptomatic and 6,138 asymptomatic cases, compared with 147 symptomatic and 4,977 asymptomatic cases a day before, local authorities said.

Major manufacturing hub Zhengzhou reported 200 new symptomatic locally transmitted COVID-19 infections and 1,650 asymptomatic cases, compared with 148 symptomatic and 2,102 asymptomatic cases a day before, according to local authorities.

The city of Chongqing reported 126 new symptomatic locally transmitted COVID-19 infections and 2,688 asymptomatic cases, compared with 157 symptomatic and 2,794 asymptomatic cases the previous day, local government authorities said. (Reporting by Wang Jing and Liz Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing)