China reports 16 new COVID-19 cases, eighth day without local infections

FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a face mask rides a bicycle past men without wearing face masks, after Beijing Centre for Disease Prevention and Control announced that wearing face masks are no longer mandatory outdoor in Beijing, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, China August 21, 2020. The Chinese characters on the banner reads, "Everyone has responsibility to prevent and control the coronavirus disease." REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

China reported 16 new COVID-19 cases in the mainland for Aug. 23, all of which were imported infections involving travellers from overseas, the country's health authority said on Monday.

This compared with 12 new COVID-19 cases reported a day earlier, all imported too, and marked the eighth consecutive day of no locally transmitted cases.

The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 84,967, while the death toll remains unchanged at 4,634.

The National Health Commission said in a statement that 27 new asymptomatic COVID-19 cases - patients who are infected with the coronavirus but not exhibiting any symptoms - compared with 15 such cases reported a day earlier.

(Reporting by Jing Wang and David Stanway; writing by Se Young Lee; Editing by Himani Sarkar)