BEIJING -- China's National Health Commission (NHC) on Tuesday dispatched an expert team to Dalian, a port city in Northeast China's Liaoning province, to guide and assist in tackling cluster COVID-19 infections, according to a statement issued by the NHC on Friday.

The team consists of 10 medical experts in the fields of medical management, epidemiology, virology, disease control, and emergency health response, the commission said.

Members of the team have carried out epidemiological investigations upon arriving in Dalian, and helped local disease control organs in laboratory testing as well as genome sequencing analysis and comparison, the statement added.

Experts also investigated and offered guidance on medical treatment, infection prevention in hospitals, nucleic acid testing, epidemic prevention in communities, and quarantine venues, according to the statement.

A total of 19 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20 asymptomatic cases were reported in Dalian between Dec 15 and Dec 24, the statement noted, adding that epidemic prevention and emergency response measures are being carried out orderly in the city.