China’s Guangzhou reports Omicron COVID-19 variant case

GUANGZHOU, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) — The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has detected a COVID-19 case involving the Omicron coronavirus variant, local health authorities said at a press conference Tuesday.

The variant was found during the genome sequencing of samples collected from a 67-year-old man under home quarantine in the city, said Chen Bin, deputy head of the Guangzhou municipal health commission.

The man arrived in Guangzhou on Dec. 11 after coming back from an overseas destination on Nov. 27 and undergoing a 14-day quarantine in another city. He had been sent to a designated hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 13.

As of Tuesday noon, a total of 184 close contacts and 865 secondary close contacts had been traced and nucleic acid test results on these people were negative.

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