Tianjin reports case of Omicron infection, first on Chinese mainland

Tianjin City in north China detected the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in a person who traveled from overseas, local health authorities said yesterday, the first known Omicron infection found in the Chinese mainland.

Details on the person's nationality or travel history were not immediately disclosed.

Officials said the individual is an asymptomatic COVID-19 patient and the person's respiratory specimen showed the existence of the Omicron variant on December 9 after tests run by Tianjin health authorities. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the result.

This person was under closed-loop management since entry to Tianjin and is now being treated in isolation in the hospital.

The Chinese mainland on Sunday reported 80 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said yesterday.

New local cases

Of the new local cases, 74 were reported in Zhejiang Province, five in Inner Mongolia, and one in Shaanxi, the commission said.

Local authorities have imposed restrictions on public gatherings and traveling out of Zhejiang to prevent the virus from spreading further. Also reported were 21 new imported cases in eight provincial-level regions, according to the commission. No new suspected cases or new deaths related to COVID-19 were reported on Sunday, it added.

Also, China has required port cities to shore up COVID-19 prevention and control precisely and scientifically and coordinate epidemic control and socio-economic development.

According to a circular issued by the State Council inter-agency task force for COVID-19 response, the recent local cluster infections reported on the mainland were all linked to imported cases in port cities.

A massive task of the country's COVID-19 response at present is to guard against inbound cases, especially in port cities, it says.

The circular asks port cities to improve epidemic prevention and control mechanisms, strengthen epidemic monitoring and warning systems, and implement border control measures.