COVID-19 Double mutant cases in China: China's CDC Weekly reported that recently three Chinese citizens tested positive for "double mutant" COVID-19 virus after returning from India.
At least 18 double mutant COVID-19 cases were detected in China. This included three Chinese nationals who worked near New Delhi and returned home last month. Reportedly, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informed the state media that more such cases were feared in the country. However, it is unlikely that cluster infections will be triggered because of its strict screening and entry rules.
CDC Weekly reported that three Chinese nationals tested positive for the double mutant Coronavirus circulating in India when they returned to the Southwest city of Chongqing, China from India via Kathmandu.
According to an epidemiological investigation, three patients who worked at a cell phone company in Noida travelled to New Delhi in a chartered car on April 19 before flying to Kathmandu. They wore protective clothes, N95 respirators, goggles and gloves later that day. In Nepal, they stayed in a hotel for two days and were tested positive as soon as they travelled to Chongqing on April 21.
The tests detected that the coronavirus infections matched the Indian B.1.617.2 variants. It was thus concluded that the workers were affected in India. Many have called for stricter rules in terms of tracking and quarantining anyone returning to China from India. Commercial flights between both countries were banned in 2020.
The tabloid Global Times, on Tuesday reported that at least one among the 18 affected people is an Indian national. The report said that one asymptomatic case involved an Indian man who landed in Shanghai from Niger via Paris. Then, he went to Zhejiang's Yiwu on April 30 after quarantine, and was tested positive on Saturday.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, China has reported 90,721 COVID-19 cases and 4,636 deaths, the last of which was recorded in January this year.
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