(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) China Disease Control Weekly Report: China reports the first imported cases of BA.2.12.1 and BA.4 infections
China News Service, Beijing, May 22. According to a number of English weekly reports recently published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China has found the first imported case of Omicron variant BA.2.12.1 infected with BA. 4 infected persons.
According to a report released on May 16, an international flight from Nairobi, Kenya arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on April 23, and one of them, a 27-year-old Chinese man, was tested on April 27, during the 14-day medical observation period. Positive for the new coronavirus nucleic acid.
Genetic sequencing on April 30 showed that the patient was infected with the Omicron variant BA.2.12.1.
On May 4, the World Health Organization reminded that the BA.2.12.1 subtype variant should be closely monitored.
Compared with other Omicron variant subtypes, BA.2.12.1 showed stronger immune escape even after booster injection.
Multiple studies have shown that this subtype variant spreads approximately 23% to 27% faster than BA.2.
The rapid spread of Omicron BA.2.12.1 has led to a rebound in the epidemic in many places in the United States.
At least 17 countries have reported the discovery of this subtype variant.
A report released on May 18 showed that on April 29, a 20-year-old Chinese woman arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and tested positive on the 30th.
On May 4, the results of gene sequencing showed that it was infected with the new coronavirus Omicron BA.4 subtype variant.
On May 4, the WHO also issued a reminder to closely monitor the Omicron BA.4 subtype variant.
This subtype variant is driving a new wave of outbreaks in South Africa and rapidly replacing the BA.2 variant, causing more than half of the country's sequenced cases since the first week of April 2022.
BA.4 also exhibited stronger immune escape compared to BA.2.
BA.4 cases have been reported in at least 20 countries, most of them (62.39%) from South Africa.
In addition, the report released on May 20 also showed that three new cases of local asymptomatic infection in Guang'an, Sichuan on May 9, the virus gene sequencing results showed that they were Omicron BA.2.2 variant.
As for how this mutation affects the transmissibility and pathogenicity of the new coronavirus, the report also pointed out that more experiments are still needed to be studied, as well as epidemiological investigations and genetic surveillance to monitor its possible further spread.
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