Two COVID-19 local infections in Anyang City, central China's Henan Province, are confirmed to be caused by the Omicron variant, which has been classified as a member of Clade BA.1, local authorities said Monday.

The two patients are believed to be linked to the same transmission chain as the existing local cases in Jinnan District, north China's Tianjin Municipality, according to the city's publicity department.

Based on the epidemiological investigation and gene sequencing results, the source of the COVID-19 infections in Anyang has been identified as a college student who returned to Tangyin County of Anyang from Tianjin's Jinnan District on December 28, 2021.