BEIJING, Sept 18 (Reuters) - China reported 1,189 new COVID-19 infections on Sept. 17, of which 154 were symptomatic and 1035 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Sunday.

That compares with 718 new cases a day earlier – 140 symptomatic and 578 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.

There were no new deaths, the same as the previous day, leaving the nation’s fatalities at 5,226. As of Saturday mainland China had confirmed 248,179 cases with symptoms.

China’s capital Beijing reported zero new local symptomatic cases and zero asymptomatic cases as with the previous day, according to local government data.

The financial hub Shanghai also reported zero local symptomatic and zero asymptomatic cases, compared with no local symptomatic cases and one asymptomatic case the day before, local government data showed.

The southwestern province of Sichuan, where the capital Chengdu was under lockdown earlier this month, reported 112 new locally transmitted COVID infections, down from 121 a day earlier, data from the local government showed. (Reporting by Martin Quin Pollard and Jenny Su; Editing by William Mallard)