China reports 1,848 new COVID cases for Sept 3 vs 1,988 day earlier

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Mainland China reported 1,848 new coronavirus cases for Sept. 3, of which 384 were symptomatic and 1,464 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Sunday.

That compared with 1,988 new cases a day earlier, of which 502 were symptomatic and 1,486 were asymptomatic infections that China counts separately.

There were no new deaths, keeping the nation's fatalities at 5,226. As of Saturday, mainland China had confirmed 244,708 cases with symptoms.

The southern technology hub of Shenzhen, where most residents went into a weekend lockdown on Saturday as mass COVID-19 testing kicked off, reported 89 new locally transmitted COVID infections, compared with 87 a day earlier, provincial government data showed.

The southwestern metropolis of Chengdu, which announced a lockdown and launched four days of citywide testing on Thursday, reported 72 new local symptomatic cases and 52 asymptomatic cases for Saturday, provincial government data showed.

China's capital Beijing reported one local symptomatic case, the same as the previous day, and no asymptomatic cases, compared with one a day earlier.

The financial hub Shanghai reported one new local symptomatic case and no asymptomatic cases, versus one symptomatic and two asymptomatic cases the day before.

(Reporting by Shanghai/Beijing newsroom; Editing by William Mallard)