BEIJING -- The Chinese mainland on Wednesday reported 222 confirmed local COVID-19 cases, of which 144 were in Shanghai, the National Health Commission said on Thursday.

Apart from Shanghai, seven other provincial-level regions on the mainland saw new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, including 35 in Beijing and 21 in Henan.

Shanghai also reported 1,305 locally transmitted asymptomatic infections Wednesday, out of a total of 1,630 such cases newly identified on the mainland.

Following the recovery of 571 COVID-19 patients who were discharged from hospital on Wednesday, there were 7,229 confirmed COVID-19 cases receiving treatment in hospitals across the Chinese mainland.

Wednesday saw five deaths from COVID-19, all in Shanghai.