Longer quarantine, retrospective testing 'unnecessary' despite 2nd case of COVID-19 variant: epidemiologist
Liu Caiyu Published: Jan 03, 2021 08:13 PM
Staff members work in an inflatable COVID-19 testing lab in Beijing, capital of China. File photo: Xinhua
China confirmed on Sunday a second imported case of the new, more transmissible coronavirus variant that has been spreading wildly in the UK. China's chief epidemiologist and public health experts said the current prevention mechanism will be effective in warding off the spread of the imported variant in China, but the measures might be escalated if more cases occur.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of South China's Guangdong Province said in a Sunday announcement that it detected the B.1.1.7 variant in the nucleic acid test sample from a Chinese student who returned from the UK on December 4. The genetic sequencing of the variant is highly similar to that of the mutated virus reported in the UK.