Beijing Covid-19 strain could have come from Europe, says Chinese expert

Gao Fu, the CDC director, had earlier said the virus could have started spreading in Beijing as early as the start of May.

The coronavirus strain that triggered the ongoing outbreak in Beijing could have originated in Europe, local officials said Friday after Chinese scientists released the genome sequence of samples picked up from the Xinfadi market linked to nearly all the cases.

Preliminary genetic sequencing research shows that this virus came from Europe , Zhang Yong, an assistant director at China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was quoted as saying, adding that strain is older than the viruses currently circulating in Europe. (AFP)

Preliminary genetic sequencing research shows that this virus came from Europe , Zhang Yong, an assistant director at China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was quoted as saying, adding that strain is older than the viruses currently circulating in Europe.

Gao Fu, the CDC director, had earlier said the virus could have started spreading in Beijing as early as the start of May.

The genome sequencing, put out late Thursday, had been shared with the WHO and the Global Influenza Data Initiative (GISAID), the CDC said.

The first cluster of new coronavirus infections was traced to the Huanan seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the first epidentre of the pandemic, in December.

It has since infected almost 8.5 million people globally.

Earlier in the day, the national health commission (NHC) said Beijing had added 25 new cases of Covid-19 for June 18, four more than the day before, taking the total number to 183 for the new outbreak in the city with nearly all the infections linked to the sprawling Xinfadi fresh food market in the southwestern Fengtai district.

“The large amounts of samples found in the Xinfadi wholesale market indicate that the virus has been around for some time. If it had only just arrived in the city for a short period of time, there may not have been so many positive samples found; however, we need more data before making an informed decision about its origin,” the CDC official Zhang said.

The first case in this new outbreak was reported on June 11, leading city authorities to reimpose a level two alert days after it had been lowered to the level three, or the least, alert on June 6.

Beijing authorities acted quickly to curb infection risks in the capital, shutting down and disinfecting fresh food and wet markets, fencing off dozens of residential communities near the affected markets, restricting travel out of Beijing and carrying out hundreds of thousands of nucleic acid tests.

Beijing is under a restricted lockdown with three categories of people not allowed to leave.

The first category includes confirmed Covid-19 patients, suspected cases, close contacts, asymptomatic carriers and people with fever.