China reports 16,797 new COVID cases for Dec 8 vs 21,439 a day earlier

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China reported 16,797 new COVID-19 infections on Dec. 8, of which 3,637 were symptomatic and 13,160 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Friday.

The commission reported 21,439 new cases a day earlier – 4,079 symptomatic and 17,360 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.

Excluding imported infections, China reported 16,592 new local cases for Thursday, of which 3,588 were symptomatic and 13,004 were asymptomatic, down from 21,165 a day earlier.

There were no deaths, unchanged from the previous day, keeping fatalities at 5,235.

As of Dec. 8, mainland China had confirmed 357,652 COVID cases with symptoms.

China's capital Beijing reported 1,185 symptomatic and 1,488 asymptomatic cases, compared with 1,168 symptomatic and 2,194 asymptomatic cases the previous day, local government data showed.

Financial hub Shanghai reported 28 symptomatic cases and 303 asymptomatic cases, compared with 39 symptomatic cases and 327 asymptomatic cases a day before, the local health authority reported.

Guangzhou, a city in the south of nearly 19 million people, reported 854 new locally transmitted symptomatic and 1,005 asymptomatic cases, compared with 911 symptomatic and 1,640 asymptomatic cases a day before, local authorities said.

Chongqing reported 111 new symptomatic locally transmitted COVID-19 infections and 2,656 asymptomatic cases, compared with 155 symptomatic and 3,006 asymptomatic cases the previous day, local government authorities said.

(Reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Raju Gopalakrishnan)