As nations clamp down on travellers from China during an Omicron surge, health experts from Beijing provided another briefing for the World Health Organization in what Beijing described as a series of ongoing “technical exchanges” over the government’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, treatments and vaccination status.
WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) reported on Wednesday that it had met a day earlier to discuss the situation in mainland China. The TAG-VE meets regularly to review the latest scientific evidence on circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants and advises WHO on whether a change in public health strategies is needed.
During the meeting, scientists from China CDC presented genomic data from what they described as imported and locally-acquired cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The data for locally-acquired infections were based on more than 2,000 genomes collected and sequenced since Dec. 1.
Some 773 sequences from mainland China have been submitted to the GISAID EpiCoV database, including 564 collected since Dec. 1, but only 95 are labelled as locally acquired cases; another 187 are considered imported cases and 261 do not have any such differentiation.
The China CDC analysis showed a predominance of Omicron lineages BA.5.2 and BF.7 among locally acquired infections, WHO reported, with BA.5.2 and BF.7 together accounting for 97.5% of all local infections as per genomic sequencing.
“A few other known Omicron sublineages were also detected albeit in low percentages,” said WHO. “These variants are known and have been circulating in other countries, and at the present time no new variant has been reported by the China CDC.”
In response to concerns about a lack of data on China’s infections and fears that new variants might emerge, nations such as the Australia, Canada, India, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States have announced stricter measures on travellers from China, such as requiring a COVID-19 test before boarding a flight.
The Chinese government has sharply criticized these additional testing requirements imposed on passengers from China and threatened countermeasures against the nations involved.
“We do not believe the entry restriction measures some countries have taken against China are science-based. Some of these measures are disproportionate and simply unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a daily briefing on Tuesday.
“We firmly reject using COVID measures for political purposes and will take corresponding measures in response to varying situations based on the principle of reciprocity,” she said.
The Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) met on 3 January 2023 to discuss the #COVID19 situation in mainland China.
Read the full statement:https://t.co/ZyRgrhaTRk pic.twitter.com/64cXflZnf2
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 4, 2023
Omicron infections reflect need for more data sharing
The preponderance of BA.5.2 and BF.7 locally acquired infections “is in line with genomes from travellers from China submitted to the GISAID EpiCoV database by other countries,” according to WHO officials.
The TAG-VE emphasised the critical need for and importance of additional analysis as well as sharing of sequence data to understand the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and the emergence of concerning mutations or variants.
It said it is also evaluating the rapidly increasing proportion of XBB.1.5 in the United States and other countries, and plans to release an updated risk-assessment of XBB.1.5 beyond the previous statement.
Last month, WHO urged China to make full use of all available COVID-19 vaccines to combat its current Omicron surge – including mRNA vaccines that are more effective than China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines.
“Vaccination is the exit strategy from the impact [of Omicron],” Dr Mike Ryan, WHO head of health emergencies, told the last WHO global press conference for 2022.
Since Chinese vaccines are less effective than mRNA vaccines, the WHO advises that its citizens need three doses to have the same protection as two mRNA doses – which means that China’s population is under-vaccinated.
Image Credits: Jida Li/Unsplash.
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