East China city reports 23 COVID-19 cases

The city of Ningbo in east China's Zhejiang Province has reported 23 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since January 1, local authorities said on Monday night.

The cases were highly concentrated in a workshop of a clothing company in Beilun District, Wang Renyuan, deputy secretary-general of the Ningbo municipal government, told a press briefing.

Among the total, 19 are mild cases and four are moderate cases, the official said.

Local health authorities have not successfully traced the source of the infection, but transmission from goods can not be ruled out.

The gene sequencing result showed that the first case was infected with the Delta AY.57 sub-variant, Wang said.

The COVID-19 flare-up has not affected the operation of the Ningbo-Zhoushan port, which is located mainly in the Beilun District.

The port's average daily container throughput from January 1-3 exceeded 97,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up 8.5 percent year on year, said Jiang Yipeng, deputy general manager of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group Co Ltd.