CHINA CURRENTS
Omicron Invades
China’s Battle Against the COVID-19 Omicron Variant Alistair Baker-Brian
B
attling against new variants of any virus is commonplace, take the flu for example. The battle becomes more difficult, however, when dealing with a new virus. The SARSCoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19, is still somewhat new, having been first identified in Wuhan two years ago. In November, scientists in South Africa identified the latest strain known as the ‘omicron variant’. The World Health Organization (WHO) later classed it as a “variant of concern.” Doctors, scientists, policy-makers and others are still learning about the omicron strain. A WHO technical briefing which was updated on December 10 suggested that omicron was spreading faster than the delta variant in places where community transmission was present, as reported by CNN. Dr. Roo Changizi, Chair of Family Medicine Department at Beijing United Family Hospital, told That’s that booster jabs are key for protection. “As we wait to see which direction this virus takes us, the response to omicron may include both accelerating the rollout of booster doses of vaccines and developing new formulations better targeted to this variant. Pharmaceutical companies have indicated that modified or new vaccines could be available in a few months, although the scale and availability are unclear.” The first two cases of omicron were reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in November. The Chinese mainland has also reported imported cases of the omicron variant; the first arrived in Tianjin on December 9. The second case was reported in Guangzhou on December 13. The individual arrived in Shanghai from abroad and began his two week quarantine on
November 27. During this time all of his nucleic acid tests were negative. The man, aged 67, traveled in a closed-loop environment to Guangzhou for home quarantine. It was during home quarantine that he tested positive. What’s perhaps most worrying about the latter case is that a close contact was later identified in Henan province. Beijing Daily reports that the close contact was on the same flight to Shanghai as the case identified in Guangzhou. The close contact traveled to Weihui city, Henan province after having left centralized quarantine in Shanghai. How will China deal with the omicron variant? The answer is pretty clear. China will continue to apply the ‘zero-COVID’ approach. That means that for the time being, international travel will remain off-limits for most, and strict COVID-19 prevention measures will be enforced domestically as and when necessary. However, it’s not all bad news. According to findings by the National Health Commission published on December 12, China has administered around 2.6 billion vaccine doses. At a press conference, the National Health Commission claimed that this amounted to 1.16 billion fully vaccinated people, as reported by Xinhua. In addition, early data suggests that a third dose, or booster jab, of SINOVAC CoronaVac vaccine can increase levels of serum antibodies against the omicron
variant, as reported by Guangming Daily . The data has not yet been published in any peer-reviewed study. Amidst all the uncertainty caused by the latest omicron variant, one thing is for sure; ‘zero-COVID-19’ will continue to underpin China’s pandemic prevention strategy. Therefore, ‘normal’ will not be returning anytime soon.
JANUARY 2022 | 09
