Soaring China COVID-19 cases increase risk of new variants, experts say

A COVID-19 patient on a stretcher arrives at Tianjin Nankai Hospital in Tianjin, China on December 28, 2022. Noel Celis/ AFP

While the country's National Health Commission has stopped issuing daily case numbers, officials in several cities estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have been infected in recent weeks. Hospitals and crematoriums have been overwhelmed across the country. "The fact that 1.4 billion people are suddenly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 obviously creates conditions prone to emerging variants," Flahault said, referring to the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.

"We need to keep a close watch on any emerging concerning variants," she told the website of the Indian Express newspaper.In response to the surging cases, the United States, Italy, Japan, India and Malaysia announced this week they would increase health measures for travelers from China. "If we succeed to sample and sequence all viruses identified from any travelers coming in from China, we will know almost as soon as new variants emerge and spread" in the country, he said.

However BA.5.2 and BF.7 remain the main Omicron strains detected in China, Xu said, adding that the varying sublineages would likely circulate together.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

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