China has recorded its highest number of daily local new Covid-19 infections in more than six weeks, as the country battles an outbreak concentrated mainly in its northern provinces.

China reported 59 new locally transmitted infections for Oct 29, the National Health Commission said, up from 48 a day earlier. It was the highest number of new local infections since Sept 16.

Most of the new local cases were in northern China, with infections reported in Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Beijing and Ningxia, according to Reuters.

Including infections imported from overseas, China recorded 78 new Covid-19 cases for Oct 29, up from 64 cases a day earlier. China also reported 24 new asymptomatic cases, which it classifies separately from confirmed cases, up from 23 a day earlier.