Omicron and global Covid-19 surge set to test China’s health defences
- Authorities to fortify border checks and track conditions overseas to prevent incoming infections
- Health official confident the country’s zero-Covid response will block community transmission
National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng said on Tuesday that Covid-19 cases were on the rise around the world, with daily numbers nearing previous highs.
China has battled frequent community outbreaks since the summer when the more transmissible Delta variant became the dominant pandemic strain.
02:30
Asia tightens borders as spread of new coronavirus variant Omicron clouds region’s return to travel
But China announced no change to its entry rules, which include partially closed borders, limits on arrivals and quarantine for incoming passengers.
The NHC said on Monday that the existing response – relying on strong interventions such as quick lockdowns, frequent testing, isolation and mask mandates to cut off community spread – would still be effective against Omicron.
But efforts will be strengthened at borders and in high-risk jobs and areas to prevent infections, according to Cui Gang, a senior official at the NHC’s Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control.
“We must closely track the trend of the epidemic in relevant countries and regions, integrate data on inbound passengers, inbound goods and environmental monitoring of key places, and strengthen analysis and early warning,” Cui said without specifying countries or regions.
He also said travellers and goods from countries with a “serious Covid-19 epidemic” could be subjected to more frequent coronavirus tests and other limits, including flight suspensions.
Coronavirus tests for people in high-risk areas would be expanded while inbound travellers and people who were in direct contact with them and handled imported goods should adhere to “closed-loop” management, Cui said.
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What do we know about the new coronavirus variant Omicron?
The World Health Organization declared Omicron a “variant of concern” after scientists found structural changes on the virus.
The designation means it is more contagious, more virulent or likely to evade public health measures, vaccines and therapeutics.
The changes of greatest concern are mostly on the virus’s spike protein, which plays a key role in entering human cells and has been the focus of some vaccines and antibody treatments.
Some of the mutations have been seen in variants that are more transmissible or virulent, raising concerns that the new variant could be more contagious or resistant to existing vaccines.
But scientists are still studying whether the Omicron variant will be as dangerous as feared.
Omicron- what are the symptoms, will vaccines work?
Xu Wenbo, head of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention under the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said Omicron was likely to enter China, but he was confident the country’s zero-Covid response would block community transmission.
He was also confident that existing tests would be able to detect any cases.
“The mainstream test kits in China can deal with the introduction of the Omicron variant,” Xu said.
In general, tests on swabs of saliva or nasal samples look for specific markers in the genetic material to identify the presence of the coronavirus as an indicator of infection. Usually, two or more such markers are searched to ensure the match is correct.
Tests designed to recognise markers in the spike protein can report a false negative because the Omicron variant features a large number of mutations on the spike protein that those tests might not recognise.
But Xu said the tests in China were based on a design by the Chinese CDC that targeted the open reading frame group of genes and the N gene – and not the spike protein – and they would not be affected by the Omicron variant.
