Beijing’s Fresh COVID-19 Outbreak Linked To ‘Imported’ European Strain

The recent and fresh COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing is a European strain of the novel coronavirus, according to Chinese officials who have made the genome sequence of the virus strain public.

Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official Zhang Yong reported the facts about the European strain of coronavirus in its early research data published as a part of an article in the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

"According to preliminary genomic and epidemiological study results, the virus is from Europe, but is different from the virus currently spreading in Europe," Yong has reported.

He further added that the strain linked to the recent coronavirus outbreak in Beijing is older than the current virus strain found in Europe.

The recent outbreak has been linked to Beijing’s sprawling wholesale food center of Xinfadi. It has infected more than 80 people since the resurgence reported 10 days ago.

WHO’s top emergency expert Mike Ryan said in the Geneva news conference that viruses move around the world and therefore, he thinks that it does not indicate that it emerged in Europe.

“What it is saying most likely is the disease was most probably imported from outside Beijing at some point,” he said.

Ryan further said what is important at this time is to figure out how this strain arrived in Beijing, how many people got infected during the transfer and how the infection amplified in the first place to cause COVID-19 resurgence.

However, he confirmed that the virus appears to have a human origin and has not jumped the species barrier again.

Ever since the second coronavirus outbreak in China has been reported, it is under pressure to make information concerning the new strain public as soon as possible.

The country has been under fire for delaying the transmission of information ever since the coronavirus outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019.

Coronavirus has so far affected more than 8.5 million people around the world. The U.S. and Brazil are the two worst-affected countries. The virus is on a rampage currently in Latin America, Caribbean and Asian countries such as India and Pakistan.