China's COVID-19 surge raises odds of new coronavirus mutant (37 million infections in one day)

[Celerity]

https://apnews.com/article/science-health-china-covid-306b688d84e31a9462f82d0ead1f4584

Could the COVID-19 surge in China unleash a new coronavirus mutant on the world? Scientists don’t know but worry that might happen. It could be similar to omicron variants circulating there now. It could be a combination of strains. Or something entirely different, they say.

“China has a population that is very large and there’s limited immunity. And that seems to be the setting in which we may see an explosion of a new variant,” said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University.

Every new infection offers a chance for the coronavirus to mutate, and the virus is spreading rapidly in China. The country of 1.4 billion has largely abandoned its “zero COVID” policy. Though overall reported vaccination rates are high, booster levels are lower, especially among older people. Domestic vaccines have proven less effective against serious infection than Western-made messenger RNA versions. Many were given more than a year ago, meaning immunity has waned.

The result? Fertile ground for the virus to change. “When we’ve seen big waves of infection, it’s often followed by new variants being generated,” Ray said. Dr. Shan-Lu Liu, who studies viruses at Ohio State University, said many existing omicron variants have been detected in China, including BF.7, which is extremely adept at evading immunity and is believed to be driving the current surge.

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China's COVID surge infected 37 million people in one day

https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/chinas-covid-surge-is-infecting-37-million-people-a-day-report20221225225602/



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[Blues Heron]

1. at least there are treatments at this point. Whether there is enough paxlovid is another story

[Celerity]

2. not a chance there are enough post infection treatment doses for hundreds of millions

[ornotna]

4. Does China even have access to Paxlovid?

They rejected our vaccines.

[Celerity]

5. Private hospitals in China begin using Pfizer oral drug for COVID treatment

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-12-24/Private-hospitals-in-China-begin-using-Pfizer-s-Paxlovid--1g1xsIi8yeQ/index.html



Some private hospitals in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai are among the first in China to offer treatment for COVID-19 using antiviral Paxlovid pills developed by the American company Pfizer. The news came as the number of COVID patients increased in China after the country optimized its COVID-control measures with fewer checks and restrictions in late November.

Doctors said Paxlovid, which requires a prescription, is not available to all patients. "There's no need for patients with mild symptoms to take this medicine," Dr. Kelly Xia, general manager of Guangzhou United Family Hospital, told CGTN. It is mainly for people who are at high risk of COVID-19, such as those aged over 65 or have chronic diseases, Xia said, adding that this medicine can prevent their condition from becoming more severe.

China's drug regulator – the National Medical Products Administration – granted conditional approval for the imports of Pfizer's Paxlovid COVID-19 pill in February 2022. The administration asked the drug's marketing authorization holder to continue its relevant research work, fulfill the conditions within the specified time and submit the following research results timely.

The medicine was reported to be sold online and soon sold out. There's little report of the drug's availability in other public hospitals yet. Paxlovid is one of the two oral medicines for COVID-19 treatment having been approved in China, and the other is Azvudine, developed by China's Genuine Biotech.

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[ornotna]

6. Thanks for the info

Going by what you posted, doesn't sound like it's super widely available. Good luck to the Chinese people.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. Wow. I hope that all of these people get well and that the infections come to an end. It

seems like this version (if it is another version of COVID) is more infectious than prior versions. I see many in China still wearing the masks (like so many overseas Asian Countries) but obviously there are lots who aren't wearing the masks, preventing the spread. Perhaps being so infectious, that this version, if it is a different version of COVID, is weaker, less prone to causing serious disease.