After more than 15 days, new COVID-19 cases of community transmission have started to decline in Beihai, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the city's senior official said at a conference on Thursday.

Li Jianhua, a vice-mayor of Beihai, said zero-COVID status at community level has been achieved in some districts and counties in the port city, such as Tieshangang district and Hepu county, and more targeted prevention measures will be adapted to curb the outbreak.

Beihai reported 32 locally transmitted confirmed cases, plus 127 asymptomatic carriers on Wednesday, according to a statement by the region's health commission on Thursday.

As of Wednesday, the city had 402 confirmed cases and 2,047 asymptomatic carriers since July 12, with Haicheng district registering 298 confirmed and 1642 asymptomatic, the most in the outbreak.

Mass nucleic acid testing and screening continued on Thursday in the Haicheng district and key areas of Yinhai district, which registered the second most cases, to detect the possible infections and eliminate community spread, Li said.

"Meanwhile, strict control measures remained intact in the high and medium risk areas," she added.