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Faced with an unexpected increase in cases following the lifting of zero-Covid policy restrictions, China has established a network of hospitals to monitor virus mutations, according to media reports on Wednesday.
According to the South China Morning Post, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) has established a data collection network comprised of one hospital in each city and three cities in each province.
According to the report, each hospital will collect samples from 15 outpatients and emergency room patients, 10 patients with severe illnesses, and all fatalities.
“Genomic data from the samples will be uploaded to the national database within a week for analysis and sequencing, laying out the distribution of any sub-lineages that may develop across the country,” said the report, quoting Xu Wenbo, director of the China CDC’s National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, as saying.
According to the China CDC, 130 Omicron sub-lineages have been discovered in the last three months, but none of them have caused serious illness. Among them are several BQ.1 and XBB strains that have been circulating in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore, among other places.
Public health experts, including top respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan, have warned that a surge in Covid-19 infections in China over a short period of time could result in the emergence of new virus variants.
In early December, mass PCR testing was canceled, and people with negative test results are no longer required to return to work or enter public places in the country.
While BA5.2 and BF.7 continue to predominate in China, “BQ.1 and its sub-lineage have been found in 49 cases in nine provinces, while XBB sub-lineages have been found in 11 cases in three provinces”, Xu was quoted as saying.
China has recorded 5,237 Covid-related deaths so far during the pandemic.
Source:OCN
