Dalian, Liaoning province, reported nine new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 27 symptomatic infections from Thursday until 3 pm Friday, a local health official said at a news conference held in Dalian, on Friday.

"They were detected by tracing close contacts with the previous cases," said Zhao Lian, deputy director of the Dalian Health Commission.

All the confirmed patients were transferred to the city's designated hospital, Sixth People's Hospital of Dalian, which was set up to treat infectious diseases, she said.

On Thursday night, Dalian's command office for epidemic prevention and economic and social development held a meeting in which it was noted that the whole city should quickly enter a war footing against the virus and resolutely contain its spread.