Of the local cases reported, 1,730 were in the northeastern province of Jilin, 260 in Shanghai, and 21 in Heilongjiang, another northeastern province, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Over a dozen other provincial-level regions also saw new locally-transmitted COVID-19 infections.
Besides, a total of 43 new imported COVID-19 cases were reported across the Chinese mainland, compared with 40 the previous day, it added.
Following the recovery of 4,307 patients on Friday, the number of COVID-19 patients currently undergoing treatment stood at 27,128, including 58 in critical conditions.
There have been no new COVID-19 deaths and the death toll has remained unchanged at 4,638.
On Friday, Shanghai launched the second phase of a massive COVID-19 PCR screening, local media reported citing local authorities.
With a population of nearly 25 million people, Shanghai detected 358 local COVID-19 cases, and another 4,144 asymptomatic infections over the past day, Sputnik News Agency reported.
The first lockdown phase lasted from 5 am (local time) on March 28 until 5 am April 1 in the areas located east and south of the Huangpu River, including Pudong, Fengxian, Jinshan, and Chongming districts, and several areas of Minhang and Songjiang.
The second phase came into effect at 3 am (local time) today and will last until 3 am (local time) on April 5 in areas west of the Huangpu River, including Xuhui, Huangpu, and Jiading districts.
The operation of public and private traffic is shut down, and the bridges over the river are also closed for the lockdown period.
Last month, China has faced its worst outbreak since the coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan. From March 1 to 24, the country had reported 56,000 infections -- more than the total cases in Wuhan two years ago.
The number of coronavirus cases and deaths reported by the Chinese authorities since the beginning of the pandemic in late 2019 is considered a tiny fraction of the real figures, with Beijing admitting to just over 1,00,000 total cases prior to the current surge.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor