Virus found in Yantai identified as Delta variant

Genome sequencing of the first COVID-19 patient in the recent cluster of cases in Yantai, Shandong province, found it to be consistent with the Delta variant detected at Lukou International Airport in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, the Shandong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

The center has completed sequencing of the whole genomes of virus samples collected from the first two patients in Yantai, Ma Lixin, the Party chief of the center, said at a news conference on Thursday.

Ma said the virus from the second patient is 100 percent homologous with the first case.

Shandong had handled 11 locally transmitted confirmed cases as of Wednesday, all in Yantai, according to the provincial Health Commission.

Yantai had completed the sampling of 2.17 million residents in its five main urban districts by Thursday at noon. More than 55 percent of the samples had been tested by Thursday noon, all coming back negative, Ma said.