BEIJING (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) - Mainland China reported 74 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday (Nov 6), up from 55 a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Sunday.

The National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin that 50 of the new cases were locally transmitted, up from 40 the previous day.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, was 35, up from 27 a day earlier.

Hebei province, which is in close proximity to Beijing, reported 21 new cases.

Chinese authorities are ring-fencing the capital city against the escalating pandemic outbreak ahead of the Winter Olympics. Stringent curbs will remain to disrupt the virus' domestic transmission.

The outbreak, fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant, has reached 20 out of 31 mainland provinces, the broadest spread in China since the virus was first detected in Wuhan.

China is the only country still tethered to the so-called Covid-Zero strategy, as other nations pivot from trying to eliminate the virus to learning to treat it as endemic.

China has reported a total of 97,734 coronavirus cases, with 4,636 deaths.