BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authority said Saturday that it received reports of 22 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Friday, of which 16 were domestically transmitted.

All domestically-transmitted cases were reported in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the National Health Commission said in its daily report.

No deaths related to the disease were reported Friday, according to the commission.

On Friday, 21 people were discharged from hospitals after recovery, and one new suspected case was reported in Xinjiang.

As of Friday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 83,644, including 252 patients who were still being treated, with three in severe condition.

Altogether 78,758 people had been discharged after recovery, and 4,634 had died of the disease, the commission said.

Six new imported cases -- three in Guangdong Province, two in Shandong Province and one in Fujian Province -- were reported Friday, bringing the total number of imported cases to 2,004. Of the cases, 1,920 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 84 remained hospitalized with three in severe condition. No deaths from the imported cases had been reported.

The commission said four people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.

According to the commission, 4,072 close contacts were still under medical observation after 129 people were discharged from medical observation Friday.

Also on Friday, 14 new asymptomatic cases, including five from overseas, were reported on the mainland and no asymptomatic cases were re-categorized as confirmed ones.

The commission said 109 asymptomatic cases, including 77 from overseas, were still under medical observation.

By Friday, 1,713 confirmed cases including 11 deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 46 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 454 in Taiwan including seven deaths.

A total of 1,264 patients in the Hong Kong SAR, 46 in the Macao SAR, and 440 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.