China Publishes Coronavirus Genome Data After Latest Beijing OutbreakChina has released genome sequencing data for the coronavirus responsible for a recent outbreak in Beijing, with officials saying on Friday it identified a European strain based on preliminary studies.
China, which had been under pressure to make the data public sooner rather than later as COVID-19 cases mounted in the country’s capital, said it had also submitted the data to the World Health Organization.
Details published on China’s National Microbiology Data Center website revealed the genome data was based on three samples – two human and one environmental – collected on June 11.
That was the same day Beijing reported its first new local COVID-19 infection in months. In the eight days since, the city has reported a total of 183 cases, linked to the sprawling wholesale food centre of Xinfadi in the city’s southwest.
“According to preliminary genomic and epidemiological study results, the virus is from Europe, but it is different from the virus currently spreading in Europe,” Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official Zhang Yong said in an article published on Friday. “It’s older than the virus currently spreading in Europe.”
