COVID-19: China’s new infection surge sparks fear of new coronavirus mutant; infection reached 250 million people within 20 days in December

The lifting of nearly all pandemic measures in China has sparked fears of a new coronavirus mutant variant emerging from new infections.

Most recently, an estimated 250 million people, 18 per cent of the population, have gotten infected from Dec 1 to 20 since Beijing removed measures that have been in place for almost three years.

Deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Sun Yang, said last week that last Tuesday alone (Dec 20), 37 million people, or 2.6 per cent of the population, were infected with the coronavirus responsible for the pandemic, The Financial Times reported on Dec 25.

Dr Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, is quoted in an AP report as saying, “China has a population that is very large and there’s limited immunity. And that seems to be the setting in which we may see an explosion of a new variant.”

This is because each new infection means a chance for the virus to mutate, and thus the large numbers infected in China are seen as a possible cause for concern.

Dr Ray added, “When we’ve seen big waves of infection, it’s often followed by new variants being generated.”

Currently, a type of the Omicron variant that became globally dominant, BF.7, has been detected in China. This variant is “extremely adept at evading immunity and is believed to be driving the current surge,” AP reported.

Many in China, who received vaccinations that relied on older technology, have waning or partial immunity, which gives the virus further motivation to change. Furthermore, it is unknown whether the virus mutations will be milder than their precedents.

Dr Ray continued, “Much of the mildness we’ve experienced over the past six to 12 months in many parts of the world has been due to accumulated immunity either through vaccination or infection, not because the virus has changed.”

Moreover, the World Health Organization recently expressed concern over parents suffering from severe forms of Covid, with hospitals in Baoding and Langfang, cities outside Beijing, going short on ICU beds and medical staff. /TISG

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