BEIJING: China’s COVID-19 disease control measures can effectively tackle the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron, and existing vaccines can offer protection against the two highly contagious strains, a public health expert said.
Dong Xiaoping, chief virologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a news conference that the BA.4 and BA.5 strains are more transmissible than other subvariants of Omicron, but their pathogenicity－meaning the virus’ ability to attack human bodies－currently shows no major difference from other strains.
With BA.4 and BA.5 variants having become dominant in some regions and triggered fresh infection spikes in parts of Europe and America, he said the incidence and mortality rates of the disease will likely rise, citing results of epidemiological models.
“However, there is no evidence to show that non-pharmaceutical interventions (such as mask wearing and keeping social distance) will no longer work,” he said. “In other words, China’s current virus containment measures remain effective.”
To better cope with the highly transmissible and stealthy Omicron strain, Dong said the latest disease control guideline, issued by the National Health Commission in late June, has underscored early detection of the virus.
“The new guideline has clarified monitoring rules for high-risk workers, added drugs into its monitoring system and used antigen tests as an additional tool,” he said. “Deployment of such new strategies and technologies will greatly boost our capability to identify Omicron cases.”
–The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
