Guangdong has isolated and detected one case of a coronavirus variant that had been spreading rapidly in South Africa, according to local health authorities on Wednesday. 

The case is a 55-year-old South African pilot who tested positive on December 8 while entering Guangdong's capital city from Singapore. Genomic sequencing of the virus on Tuesday indicated it was the same as the South African variant discovered first in mid-October last year.  

Guangdong had previously discovered a case of the coronavirus variant from the UK last Saturday.