Guangdong reports imported coronavirus variant case

GUANGZHOU -- South China's Guangdong province on Wednesday reported an imported coronavirus variant case with a strain recently found in South Africa.

It follows the province's first coronavirus variant case of the B.1.1.7 strain from Britain, which was discovered on Jan 2, according to the provincial center for disease control and prevention.

The new case is a 55-year-old South African male pilot. He tested positive for coronavirus on Dec 8, 2020. The center conducted gene sequencing on his samples and found it was the South African 501Y.V2 variant.

The variant first occurred in South Africa in mid-October and became a dominant strain there in early November. The new variant's transmissibility and severity still need further investigation, according to World Health Organization experts.