No New Variants , Emerged in Recent Chinese, COVID Outbreak, Study Suggests.
NBC reports that an analysis of COVID cases in Beijing suggests that China's recent outbreak did not lead to the emergence of any new variants.
On December 7, the Chinese government dropped most restrictions amid rare mass unrest after nearly three years of strict "zero-COVID" policies.
Following the sudden change, an outbreak occurred as the population of 1.4 billion was exposed to COVID after spending the majority of the pandemic under strict lockdowns.
According to a Chinese-funded study, which was published in 'The Lancet,' 413 samples tested from Beijing were all linked to existing COVID variants.
The study found that over 90% of local infections were found to be Omicron subvariants BA.5.2 and BF.7.
Our analysis suggests two known Omicron subvariants — rather than any new variants — have chiefly been responsible for the current surge in Beijing, and likely China as a whole, George Gao, professor at the Institute of Microbiology in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, via NBC.
However, with ongoing large-scale circulation of COVID-19 in China, it is important we continue to monitor the situation closely so that any new variants that might emerge are found as early as possible, George Gao, professor at the Institute of Microbiology in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, via NBC.
NBC points out that the study was conducted early in the recent outbreak, and the sampling was limited to only the city of Beijing.
In December, China ended mandatory testing, which makes it difficult to know the total number of cases or the percentage of cases represented by the samples.
At the time, Zeng Guang, former chief epidemiologist at the Chinese CDC, said that over 80% of people in Beijing had likely contracted COVID
