Hainan reports 11 new COVID-19 cases

On Sept 17, Hainan reported 11 new COVID-19 cases, including five confirmed cases and six asymptomatic ones. These cases were preliminary considered to be related to the "Aug 1" outbreak, as the variant of the former is identical to that of the latter.

Nine of the new cases were from Wanning, with six being at the community level, while Haikou and Sanya reported one case respectively. The new case in Sanya was also found in community-level screening.

The Wanning cases were found through regular nucleic acid testing. According to the genetic sequencing results, the virus is the Omicron variant BA.5.1.3, which is identical to the one leading to the "Aug 1" outbreak in the province. Although the cases were preliminary considered to be related to the "Aug 1" cases, the source of the infection remains under investigation.