Xbb, what is the Covid variant that worries China
China fears a new wave of Covid-19 due to the spread of the Xbb variant, which could cause up to 65 million infections a week by the end of June. All the details
China fears a new wave of Covid-19 infections due to the spread of the Xbb variant, which could cause up to 65 million infections a week by the end of June. The forecast comes from the best-known Chinese pulmonologist, Zhong Nanshan, who at a conference in Guangzhou, in south-eastern China, addressed the issue posed by the spread of the sub-lineage of the Omicron variant, held responsible for an increase in infections in China since the end of last April.
THE IMPACT OF THE XBB VARIANT IN CHINA
Xbb could cause 40 million infections a week in China from the end of May, reaching a peak of 65 million by the end of next month.
THE COMMENT OF THE PNEUMOLOGIST
The increase in infections “is what we expected,” commented the Chinese pulmonologist, citing the approval of two specific vaccines against the Xbb variant, plus “three or four” others that will be approved soon, he said, adding that “ we can lead the world in the search for more effective vaccines”.
THE NEW WAVE OF CONTAGIONS IN CHINA
The new wave expected in the coming weeks once again presents the problem of fighting the virus in China after the end of the restrictions, withdrawn following the anti-lockdown protests that took place in many Chinese cities at the end of last November.
However, Chinese experts, such as pulmonologist Wang Guangfa of Peking University First Hospital, quoted by the nationalist tabloid Global Times , believe that the new wave will not overload the health system. Yet there was a leap in infections: according to data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Cdc), the rate of infection with Xbb, a recombinant of Omicron, rose from 0.2% in mid-February to 74.4% at the end of April, to reach 83.6% at the beginning of May, and the proportion of infections linked to the variant continues to grow, in the judgment of the Chinese body.
The number of infections from the new wave would be at the same level, if not even slightly higher than the figures from last winter's wave of infections: between December and January last, the virus spread unchecked throughout China at the end of the almost three-year policy of zero tolerance towards the virus, and a wave of infections and deaths never officially quantified hit all of China, weighing on the health system and morgues.
THE DOUBTS
The big question in the coming weeks will concern the effectiveness of the new vaccines in combating the spread of the virus, while also the large international pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax are preparing to update their vaccines also on the basis of the latest recommendations of the 'World Health Organization, which target precisely the Xbb variants, in particular Xbb.1.5 and Xbb.1.16.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/cina-variante-xbb-coronavirus/ on Tue, 23 May 2023 14:23:10 +0000.