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Coronavirus China
ChinaScience

China records first cases of new Omicron variant BA.5

  • Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province, is imposing new curbs on residents after a handful of cases were identified in the city
  • The strain has become dominant in many countries and will be a fresh challenge to China’s zero-Covid policies

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The city of Xian is imposing a series of fresh curbs on residents. Photo: Shutterstock
Josephine Ma
China has reported its first community outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.5 – which has already become the dominant strain in the United States, Britain and Israel.

Zhang Yi, an infectious diseases specialist from Shaanxi’s centre for disease control and prevention, told the news platform Cnwest.com that the strain was behind the latest outbreak in the provincial capital Xian.

On Tuesday the central government announced that the province had recorded seven symptomatic cases and two asymptomatic ones.

In the past few months, several cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have been battling outbreaks caused by earlier Omicron sub variants BA.2 and BA.2.2.

“The Omicron BA.5 subvariant is even more transmissible and spreads even more quickly than the previous BA2.2 sublineage, and it has an even stronger capability to escape vaccines,” Zhang said.

The city authorities in Xian have divided the city into low, medium and high-risk areas, telling residents in the latter to stay at home. Even those living in low-risk districts have been asked not to leave their area and residents must provide a negative test result taken in the previous 48 hours before being allowed to leave the city.

From Wednesday, Xian will impose further curbs on movement and gatherings for one week. During this period food markets, entertainment premises, libraries and cinemas will be closed and dine-in services in restaurants suspended.

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