The EG.5 strain of covid-19 has emerged as the most common in China and is now responsible for 71.6% of infections from the novel coronavirus in the country, the official English-language China Daily reported Monday.
The data, released over the weekend by China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), points to a sharp increase in infections by that subvariant, which last April accounted for just 0.6% of the total. infections in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed EG.5 as an interesting variant, but has not indicated that it poses a greater threat compared to other strains. Anyone who has been infected with the XBB subvariant of Ómicron between April and June may have some immunity to EG.5, according to the organization.
According to the CDC, the spread of EG.5 has not put significant strain on the Asian country’s hospital system and is unlikely to lead to mass outbreaks.
“There is no conclusive evidence to suggest that EG.5 can cause serious symptoms,” the CDC said, quoted by China Daily.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned in early August that, while the overall risk is low, the global spread of EG.5 could contribute to an increase in COVID-19 cases in several parts of the country. the world.
“There is no doubt that the risk of death or serious cases is now much lower than a year ago, due to the increasing immunization of the population through vaccines and infections, but despite the improvement, the WHO remains of the view that the virus is a high risk for public healthadded the Ethiopian expert.
Although the WHO declared the end of the international emergency on May 5, Tedros Ghebreyesus said earlier this month that the “virus continues to circulate, kill and mutate in all countries”.
Since the start of the pandemic in late 2019, the WHO has recorded nearly seven million deaths worldwide, making the health crisis one of the most serious since that caused by the Spanish flu in 1918.
Compared to the worst moments of the pandemic, when more than 20 million weekly cases were reported worldwide (early 2022 with the Omicron variant), only about 10,000 infections were reported in Europe and 20,000 in the United States in July, although the numbers are still still relatively high in the Asia-Pacific region (288,000 positives).
Source: DN
