British Variant Found in Covid-19 Cluster Among Shenzhen Port Workers

What’s new: Four port workers in Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong province have tested positive for asymptomatic Covid-19, with at least two of them infected by the variant first found in the U.K., according to the local government.

The cluster came to light Friday after a 44-year-old port worker surnamed Mu received a routine nucleic acid test, the Shenzhen city government said during a press conference Sunday. Subsequently, three more port workers were diagnosed.

The four workers handled the cargo of a ship named the Oriental Vancouver at the Shenzhen Yantian Port on Friday, local government officials said. Genetic sequencing shows that at least two of the four workers have the more transmissible strain that first appeared in Kent in the U.K.

What’s more: A total of 173 close contacts of the confirmed cases have been placed in quarantine. The building where the four patients live has also been sealed off, according to the local government.

Shenzhen Vice Mayor Tao Yongxin said during Sunday’s press conference that all of the workers at the Yantian port have been tested twice in the past three days, and no additional infection has been found.

The Oriental Vancouver cargo ship left Shenzhen for Kaohsiung in Taiwan on Tuesday after a one-day stay in the Chinese mainland city.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use.

Contact reporter Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com) and editor Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com)

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