China sends Covid data to international database ahead of World Health Organization meeting

The global health body has been asking for more information from China about its current outbreak

The viral sequencing data sent to the GISAID database did not identify a new strain but highlighted several Omicron subvariants around the country

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The WHO has been asking China for data since lifting its zero-Covid controls last month. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:00pm, 3 Jan 2023

China has submitted genome sequence data from hundreds of recently sampled Covid-19 cases across the country to international database GISAID ahead of a meeting with the World Health Organization.

An increasing number of countries have imposed new controls on travellers from China as a result of their concerns about the current outbreak and the risk that new variants will emerge as a result.

The WHO said on Friday that it had invited Chinese scientists to present detailed data on viral sequencing ahead of a meeting of a technical advisory group on the evolution of the virus on Tuesday.

The data – collected from different areas of the country, including Beijing, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangzhou, Sichuan, Zhejiang and Inner Mongolia – was submitted over the new year holiday period.

A statement posted on GISAID’s homepage said no new variants of the virus had been detected, and the dominant strains were the Omicron subvariants BA. 5.2, BF. 7, BA. 2.75, and BQ. 1.1.

Moreover, the data indicated that BF. 7 outbreaks in Beijing and Fujian had a potential origin in Inner Mongolia, while the data from Shanghai showed a number of additional known lineages from multiple separate introductions.