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China’s first Omicron case is overseas returnee in northern Tianjin city
- Patient classified as asymptomatic carrier upon arrival found to be carrying new variant while serving mandatory quarantine
- Zhejiang province remains the focus of the latest coronavirus outbreak in China, with 74 more cases on Sunday
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China has reported its first case of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, a patient in Tianjin who returned from overseas last week.
The patient was classified as an asymptomatic carrier upon arrival in the northern city on December 9. But a full-sequence test later revealed the presence of the new variant of Sars-CoV-2, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The patient was under mandatory quarantine for overseas arrivals when diagnosed and is being treated at a designated hospital.
Cases of Omicron, a “variant of concern” according to the World Health Organization (WHO), have already spread to more than 50 countries after first being reported in South Africa, with many nations beginning to reinstate border restrictions and travel bans.
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China reported 101 confirmed Covid-19 cases on Sunday, with 80 linked to local transmissions and 21 from overseas, official data showed. Delta is still the dominant strain in the country.
The eastern coastal province of Zhejiang remains the focus of the latest coronavirus outbreak, with 74 more community cases reported across three cities.
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Elsewhere, five cases were detected in the northern border city of Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia, while Xian in northwestern Shaanxi province reported one.
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