Global concern over new variants of the coronavirus due to the increase in cases in China

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Each new infection increases the chances that the virus will mutate, experts estimate, adding that the fact that 1.4 billion people are suddenly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 obviously creates favorable conditions for the emergence of mutated strains

An explosion of new coronavirus cases in China, as the country lifts its “zero COVID” measures, it could create fertile ground for the emergence of new, mutated strains of the virus, health experts warn.

China just announced the end on January 8 of mandatory quarantine on arrival in the country, which was the last vestige of its strict containment policy that has kept the country largely closed off from the world since the pandemic broke out.

While the government stopped publishing the number of new cases detected in a day, officials in several cities they estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have recently been infected, while hospitals and crematoria are under great strain across the country.

As the virus now circulates freely in China, which has nearly a fifth of the world’s population, several countries and experts fear that the country could become a breeding ground for the emergence of new mutated strains of the new coronavirus. Especially since the Chinese population is still under-vaccinated.

Each new infection increases the chances that the virus will mutate, he therefore estimates Antoine Flao, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Geneva. “The fact that 1.4 billion people are suddenly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 obviously creates favorable conditions for the emergence of variant strains,” he told AFP.

THE Bruno Lina, a professor of virology at the French University of Lyon said at the same time to the newspaper La Croix that “given the intense circulation of the virus and therefore the increased risk of mutations, a possible breeding ground for the virus could arise from China”.

THE Sumiya SwaminathaN, who was the World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist until November, also said that much of the Chinese population is vulnerable, in part because many elderly have not been vaccinated. “We need to closely monitor any emergence of mutant strains of concern,” he told the paper’s website. Indian Express.

Border controls

In response to the surge in cases, the US, Italy, Japan, India and Malaysia announced this week that they would strengthen border controls.

The US will claim from January 5th negative test for COVID-19 from all travelers arriving by air from China.

The French government, which affirms that it is “monitoring the development of the situation very carefully”, said it was “ready” yesterday, Wednesday, “to study all useful measures”.

India and Japan will make PCR tests mandatory for all travelers from China, a measure which, according to Antoine Flaocould be a way to circumvent any delay in information coming from Beijing.

“If we can sample and sequence the genomes of all the viruses found in all travelers from China, we will know almost immediately if new mutant strains are emerging and spreading” in the country, he noted.

THE Su Wenbohead of the virus control institute at China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, assured that the country’s hospitals will collect samples from patients and upload sequence information to a new national database, which will allow authorities to track new executives in real time.

“Soup” of variations

More than 130 subtypes of the Omicron variant strain of the new coronavirus have been identified in China in the past three months, the Su Wenbo last week.

Among them are the XXB and BQ.1 and their own sub-types, which have spread across the US and parts of Europe in recent months as a horde of sub-variants jostle for global dominance.

However, BA.5.2 and BF.7 remain Omicron’s key strains found in China, noted Su Wenboadding that the various subcategories will probably be released together.

“A soup” of more than 500 new Omicron subvariants have been identified in recent months, recalled Antoine Flao.

“All variant strains, being more contagious than the previously dominant variant strains — such as BQ.1, B2.75.2, XBB, CH.1 or BF.7 — are certainly a threat as they can cause new waves “, noted the epidemiologist.

“Currently none of these variants appear to carry particular new risks for more severe symptoms, but this may happen with new variants in the near future,” he concluded.

RES-EMP

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