HOHHOT -- The border city of Manzhouli in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region reported 15 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases from 12 am to 2 pm on Thursday, local authorities said.

So far, the city has reported 498 locally transmitted confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the latest resurgence of the epidemic. All cases are receiving treatment at a designated local hospital, according to a press briefing held Thursday.

To date, the border city has launched 11 rounds of mass nucleic acid testing amid the fresh outbreak, with 512 samples testing positive.

As the number of close contacts of local infections in the city has exceeded 12,000, Manzhouli has transferred 7,956 people under quarantine to the city of Hulun Buir starting from Dec 2.

Manzhouli also plans to set up an examination center to ensure that local students and those stranded in the city can take the coming preliminary test of the national entrance exams for postgraduate studies on time.