File photo: VCG

The Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in South China's Guangdong Province has identified a South African COVID-19 variant strain in a throat swab test on Wednesday, marking a second discovery of a new strain, following the discovery of a strain from the UK in a separate imported case on Saturday.

The patient in the Saturday discovery is a male South African pilot aged 55, who entered Guangdong from Singapore on the night of December 8, 2020. He tested positive upon entry and has been put under quarantine and had medical treatment since then, local media reports said.

The Guangdong provincial CDC received the throat swab on December 31 and decided it was the South African variant COVID-19 strain 501Y.V2 on Tuesday night.

The 501Y.V2 variant was first discovered in South Africa last October. As of January 5, the variant has been found in seven other countries, the reports said citing WHO data.

According to the Guangdong CDC, neither of the variants are likely to cause community infection outbreaks, due to the local closed-loop management mechanism.