COVID investigations The “patient zero” of this round of COVID-19 outbreak in North China’s Hebei Province may have been infected before December 15, 2020, local health authorities said on Sunday. The conclusion is based on preliminary results of epidemiological investigations, said Shi Jian with the provincial center for disease prevention and control. After conducting gene sequencing on the positive samples, the center found that the virus strain is from Europe, but is different from the variants recently discovered in Britain or South Africa. Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) tasked with investigating the origins of the novel coronavirus will arrive in China on Thursday, according to China’s National Health Commission. Vaccines effective A Chinese study found that vaccines currently available for mass vaccination in China can effectively neutralize the new coronavirus variant first identified in the United Kingdom last month, according to an official in charge of vaccine development under the State Council on Saturday. Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the National Health Commission, made the statement during a press conference by the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19. Foreign aid China has continued a steady increase in the scale of its international development cooperation, giving high priority to the least developed countries in Asia and Africa and developing countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, according to a white paper issued on Sunday by the State Council Information Office. China has steadily increased the scale and further expanded the scope of its foreign aid, said the white paper. From 2013 to 2018, China allocated a total of 270.2 billion yuan (US$41.4 billion) for foreign assistance in three categories — grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans, it said. Cold wave The mercury dipped to minus 19.6 degrees Celsius at a meteorological station in the south of Beijing on Thursday morning as a strong cold wave swept the city, marking the coldest morning in the Chinese capital since 1966. The cold wave has gripped Beijing since January 6, bringing drastic temperature drops and strong winds. (SD-Agencies) | 