Cctv newsOn May 8th, the the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism held a press conference with the theme: Prevention and control work after the COVID-19 epidemic no longer constitutes a "public health emergency of international concern".
At the meeting, Chen Cao, a researcher at the Institute of Virology, China CDC, introduced that with the continuous increase of China’s foreign exchanges, the composition of major epidemic strains in Covid-19 has also been significantly increased by international influence. According to the monitoring data, in late April this year, among the imported cases, the composition of XBB series mutants has reached 97.5%, which is basically consistent with the proportion of XBB series mutants in the world. Among the local cases, the proportion of XBB series mutants has increased significantly since February this year, from 0.2% in mid-February to 74.4% in late April. At the same time, BA.5.2, BF.7, BA.2 and their subdivisions together account for about 25%. At present, the main Covid-19 epidemic strains in China have become XBB series variants.
XBB series mutant is a kind of recombinant mutant in Omicron, and its spreading ability and immune escape ability are stronger than those of Omicron mutant which was popular in the early stage, so it is a global dominant strain at present. According to the current monitoring data, the pathogenicity of these popular variants, including XBB variant, has no obvious change compared with the early popular Omikrongya branch. China CDC will continue to do a good job in monitoring the confirmed cases and clustered epidemic strains in sentinel hospitals, especially the strains of severe cases, deaths and special populations, and work with customs departments to monitor the imported strains. At the same time, China has established a multi-channel monitoring and early warning system to monitor the epidemic situation in sentinel hospitals, fever clinics, key places and urban sewage. Once abnormal risk signals are found, local disease control departments will verify, evaluate, warn and dispose of them. In addition, China CDC will strengthen health publicity and education with various departments to effectively respond to social concerns. Here, I also call on everyone to maintain the good health habits they have developed, look at the epidemic scientifically, and not be too scared or careless, and maintain a good attitude.