2023-05-23 09:11:42
A new wave of Covid 19 is underway in China, with a peak of about 65 million infections per week expected at the end of June according to forecasts by Zhong Nanshan, the Asian giant’s main respiratory disease expert, who spoke in Guangzhou at the Greater Bay Science Forum area. The new wave of infections is fueled – reports the ‘Globel Times’ – by the XBB variants of Sars-CoV-2, which have become dominant in the country. Mutants against which China has approved two new vaccines close to commercialization and is preparing to authorize 3 or 4 more, Zhong reported.
According to the National Health Commission, the recombinant XBB variants of Omicron show superior transmissibility and immune escape to Omicron, but without significant changes in terms of pathogenicity. The current wave should therefore not produce the overwhelming effects on Chinese hospitals seen last winter after the abandonment of the Zero Covid policy. However, Wang Guangfa, an expert on respiratory diseases at Peking University First Hospital, stressed to the Global Times the importance of adopting appropriate preventive measures for frail people.
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