sample from a resident to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus in
Shenyang, in China’s northeast Liaoning province on December 31,
2020. STR / AFP
China has confirmed its first case of a new coronavirus
variant that was recently detected in Britain, health officials
said.
The new strain, which experts say potentially spreads faster
than the original variant, has prompted travel restrictions on the
UK by more than 50 countries — including China, where the
coronavirus first emerged late last year.
The first patient in China with the new variant is a 23-year-old
woman from Shanghai who arrived from Britain on December 14, the
Chinese Centre for Disease Control said in a research note
published Wednesday.
She was hospitalised on arrival as she showed mild symp toms.
Health experts conducted a genetic sequencing of her test samples
on December 24 “due to travel history from the UK and abnormalities
in nucleic acid test results”,” the China CDC said.
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The patient was found to have a strain different to those found
in Shanghai or Wuhan earlier, and further testing confirmed it was
the variant known as B.1.1.7 that has been spreading in the UK
since October.
Health authorities have carried out contact-tracing, the CDC
statement added.
China suspended direct flights to and from Britain indefinitely
on December 24 because of the new strain.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the new variant
“may be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the original
version of the disease”.
But there is no evidence so far to suggest that infection
with the new variant is more likely to lead to a severe case
of Covid-19 or increase the risk of death.
AFP
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/12/31/china-reports-first-case-of-uk-covid-19-variant/