PCR Test Results Are Always Negative And Has Been Quarantined For 14 Days, A Man In China Is Positive For The Omicron Variant

Illustration of a health check during the COVID-19 pandemic at a Chinese airport. (Wikimedia Commons/Ptrump16)

JAKARTA - Guangzhou City, the capital of Guangdong Province, reported an imported case of COVID-19, a highly mutated variant of Omicron, which was the second reported case in China after Tianjin City.

The Guangdong case was identified amid plans in Hong Kong to open its border with the province this month, for quarantine-free travel.

Guangzhou authorities said a 67-year-old man entered China on November 27 and was immediately quarantined for 14 days. During that time, he repeatedly tested negative for COVID-19.

Citing SCMP, December 14, the man then flew to Guangzhou to continue self-quarantine at home on flight CA1837 on December 11, according to "closed-loop management", in which authorities organize all transportation and control quarantine measures to minimize contact between international arrivals and arrivals. the public when they return home to self-isolate.

A day later, he underwent a COVID-19 test on December 12. When the test results came out on December 13, he tested positive for the Omicron variant. He was immediately treated at the Guangzhou Number 8 People's Hospital. According to city authorities, his condition is stable.

Guangzhou has closed a building in Tianshengcun, a housing complex in the Yuexiu district where the man lives. All occupants of the building have been sent to a quarantine facility for observation.

Residents of three nearby buildings in the same complex are prohibited from leaving the neighborhood and must undergo two COVID-19 tests within three days. As of Tuesday night, 13.739 people at the complex, 4.543 of whom from the same building as the patient had been tested, all came back negative.

Residents of several roads in the neighborhood are also required to do two swab tests. The nearest entrance to the subway station has been closed and taxis and app-based transportation are prohibited from entering the area.

Passengers planning to fly from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport must indicate where they have been in the last 14 days.

Previously, Guangdong was already on high alert for a potential outbreak in the nearby city of Dongguan. Two cases of the new coronavirus have been reported in the city, involving a man and woman who had visited several public places, taking domestic flights in the days before testing positive. Authorities did not specify the type of coronavirus, although it is widely believed to be a Delta variant.

For information, China reported the first case of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in Tianjin on Monday. The patient is a Polish teenager who arrived in the northern city on December 9, according to Chinese media and the Polish government.

Separately, a spokeswoman for the Polish Ministry of Health said on Tuesday, a young Polish woman had tested positive for the Omicron variant in China, with the variant being identified on Monday.

He is isolated in hospital and asymptomatic, the spokesman said. He said one other person on the plane had tested positive for the coronavirus, but it was not yet known if this was also the case of Omicron.

To note, the teenager's pre-departure test came back negative. Poland itself has not reported any cases of the Omicron variant.