A local coronavirus outbreak has expanded to six cities in Central China's Henan province as two new cities reported COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, according to sources with the local health commission.

The province reported one locally transmitted confirmed case in the city of Gushi, with one more asymptomatic carrier in Shangqiu city on Wednesday, making the total number of COVID-19 cases 53 since the first four asymptomatic carriers in Luoyang city were reported on Dec 31.

The two new cases were found to be closely related to an early asymptomatic carrier in Zhengzhou, Henan's capital, which reported its first two asymptomatic carriers on Monday, according to the local health commission.

As of Wednesday, two areas of Yuzhou, a county-level city under the administration of Xuchang, were classified as high-risk levels, and eight more were deemed medium-risk.

Contact the writer at qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn