Imported food blamed for Shenzhen cases

There is high possibility of exposure to contaminated imported goods being responsible for the latest outbreak of novel coronavirus cases in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, a local health official has said.

"A comprehensive analysis shows that the latest COVID-19 outbreak is caused by overseas imports," Lin Hancheng, an official with the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission, said at a news briefing in Shenzhen on Monday afternoon.

No new cases were reported on Monday after the city reported its first two locally transmitted confirmed cases on Friday.

According to Lin, the first case, a person surnamed Wang, 29, is engaged in the international goods chain business and had come in close contact with imported goods recently."Sequencing results showed that the four confirmed COVID-19 cases were infected with the Delta variant (AY 103)," he said. Additionally, the variant is not homologous to those detected in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, as well as the imported cases in Shenzhen.