The city of Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province reported 24 new asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 between 3 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday.

No new confirmed or suspected cases were reported in the said period. From Wednesday to 2 p.m. Saturday, the city reported a total of 12 confirmed domestically transmitted cases.

Over 210,000 people had been sampled for nucleic acid tests as of 2 p.m. Saturday and nearly 2,000 medical workers are sent daily for gathering samples, said Zhao Lian, deputy director of the municipal health commission.

As most of the confirmed and asymptomatic cases are related to a local seafood processing company, Dalian has tightened quarantine measures on the close contacts of the company's employees, Zhao said.

The city had asked citizens to refrain from leaving the city. Those who have to leave are requested to carry certificates of negative nucleic acid test results within seven days.