The Health Commission of Shandong Province has confirmed its first coronavirus variant case imported from the UK on Tuesday.  

The case reported in Qingdao has been analyzed based on the whole gene sequence, which showed to be 99.99 percent homologous with the recent variant strain founded in the UK. The analysis has been completed by Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Shandong has strict closed-loop management on admitting inbound travelers," said Lei Jie, chief expert and physician of public health emergency at Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This means if any travelers coming from outside of China test positive when quarantined in hotels, they will be admitted in designated hospitals for treatment right away, ensuring no contact with the outside. 

Lei also added there is no need for the public to worry because it is impossible for positive cases detected among inbound travelers during their quarantine – both confirmed and asymptomatic – to be discharged to their communities before they recover.  

Shandong is the third region to detect the new variant strain in China after Shanghai and Guangdong.  

As of Tuesday, several countries have found COVID-19 cases with a variant strain including the UK, the U.S., South Africa, Nigeria, Japan, Denmark, Netherlands and Australia.