Is Delta still prevalent in China? Are there any new variants? Official response

Recently, the number of newly infected people in some places has been increasing rapidly, and all localities have tried every means to protect health and prevent severe cases. Is the Delta variant still prevalent in China? How should anti-new coronavirus drugs be used? In response to some hot issues of public concern, the State Council's joint prevention and control mechanism organized experts to answer them.

Question 1: Is the Delta variant still prevalent in our country?

Recently, there have been rumors on the Internet that the Delta variant and the Omicron variant are simultaneously prevalent in some parts of my country.

In this regard, Xu Wenbo, director of the Institute of Viral Diseases at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that according to real-time dynamic monitoring, the Delta variant has not been found to be prevalent in China, nor has the Delta variant been found to be recombined with the Omicron variant. From the beginning of December to date, nine prevalent subbranches of the new coronavirus have been monitored in China, all of which belong to the Omicron variant.

Please click on the "evolution" tree of the new coronavirus strain↓↓↓

Video source: Science Popularization China

Question 2: Have new mutant strains emerged in the country?

Xu Wenbo introduced that from the beginning of December to now, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has completed the whole genome sequencing of 1,142 cases through sampling surveys, and found that the sub-branches BA.5.2 and BF.7 of the Omicron variant strains account for the absolute majority of the national prevalence, and the two together account for more than 80%. In addition, there are 7 sub-branches of the Omicron variant strain that are also prevalent.

Xu Wenbo introduced that no characteristic genome mutations were found in these subbranches, and they were all imported from abroad. In December, a total of 31 subbranches of Omicron variants were found to be imported into China, including subbranches such as BQ.1 and XBB, which are spreading rapidly abroad.

Question 3: Will different variants cause reinfection?

Wang Guiqiang, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Peking University First Hospital, said that for most people with normal immunity, effective immune antibodies will exist in the human body within half a year . The probability of secondary infection with the same strain is extremely low, and even if infected, no serious symptoms will appear.

Wang Guiqiang said that if new variants appear or new subbranches show strong immune escape ability, reinfection may occur. According to the immune antibodies in the human body, the shorter the interval between reinfections, the milder the symptoms are usually, and the longer the interval, the more severe the symptoms are. Therefore, after this round of epidemic, everyone should still pay attention to health protection.

Question 4: How to use anti-COVID-19 drugs?

Wang Guiqiang introduced that the elderly, especially those with underlying diseases and who have not been vaccinated, are high-risk groups and early detection and early intervention are necessary in the face of the epidemic. Some oral small molecule drugs against the new coronavirus can be used as soon as possible after the onset of the disease or infection is clearly diagnosed, generally within 5 days.

Wang Guiqiang said that this type of small molecule anti-new coronavirus drug has the problem of interacting with many other drugs and has some side effects, so it must be used under the guidance of a doctor. In addition, studies have shown that this type of drug cannot be used for preventive treatment and is not effective for critically ill patients.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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