Chinese mainland reports 179 new local COVID-19 cases

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a community testing site for COVID-19 in Yunyan district of Guiyang, southwest China's Guizhou province, Sept 5, 2022. (YANG WENBIN / XINHUA)

BEIJING – The Chinese mainland on Saturday reported 179 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 97 in Sichuan and 21 in Inner Mongolia, according to the National Health Commission's report Sunday.

A total of 959 local asymptomatic carriers were newly identified.

A total of 399 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery on the Chinese mainland on Saturday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals to 235,656.

READ MORE: Cities across country battle to control COVID-19 flare-ups

Saturday saw no new deaths from COVID-19, with the total death toll remaining at 5,226.