THE mainland recorded 55 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections Tuesday, a considerable drop compared with 127 newly reported a day earlier.

Tuesday saw 33 new local infections in Henan, 14 in Tianjin, seven in Guangdong and one in Beijing, according to the latest data from the National Health Commission.

Across the mainland, a total of 32 imported COVID-19 cases were also newly reported.

The commission noted that there were no new deaths from COVID-19 but added that five new suspected infections, all arriving from overseas, were recorded.

Following the recovery of 163 patients Tuesday, the number of COVID-19 cases now under treatment has decreased to 3,454 from 3,530 a day earlier.

A total of 4,636 had died as a result of the virus on the mainland since the pandemic. The toll has remained unchanged for almost a year.

Tianjin Municipality will launch the fourth round of citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. today, said the municipal epidemic prevention and control headquarters.

The mass testing, with the aim to protect people’s health, curb the further spread of the epidemic and reinforce the existing outcome, is scheduled to be completed in about 24 hours, it added.

The municipality of 13.9 million people that neighbors Beijing has conducted three rounds of citywide mass testing since Jan. 9.

The infections in the latest resurgence in Tianjin were first reported Jan. 8, and the gene sequencing found the first two locally transmitted confirmed cases were the VOC/Omicron variant.

As of Monday, a total of 312 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 22 asymptomatic cases had been detected in this resurgence that started Jan. 8.

(Xinhua)