Advertisement
Coronavirus China
ChinaScience

China’s rising Covid cases and new variant spark concerns about ‘third wave’

  • The country’s coronavirus infections rebound, mirroring global trend, while immunity-evading EG.5 variant gains dominance
  • Despite a surge in cases, the new strain does not appear to bring increase in severe illness or death

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
9
China no longer requires mass Covid-19 testing, which could make it harder for the government to closely monitor a “third wave” of infections, according to experts. Photo: Getty Images
Dannie Peng
An uptick in China’s Covid-19 infections and concerns about new variant EG.5 have led to speculation about whether the country is experiencing a “third wave” of coronavirus cases, but public health data suggests the risk of severe illness and death remains low.
Advertisement

According to the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the infection rate steadily declined from the end of May, hitting a low of 12 per cent in mid-July, but then saw a slight rebound, reaching 13.4 per cent by the end of the month.

This mirrors a global trend of rising Covid-19 cases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were 1.5 million new cases globally from July 10 to August 6, representing an 80 per cent increase compared to the previous month.

Peng Jie, an infectious disease clinical expert, told the Post he had noticed a rise in Covid-19 patients at his hospital in Guangdong province.

“The primary reason [for this increase] is that some individuals who were infected with Covid before have experienced a decline in their immunity against the virus over time,” Peng said, adding that the virus would continue to cause minor waves of infection.

The rise of new variant EG.5 is driving up infections and raising concerns. The WHO classified it as a “variant of interest” last week.

Advertisement
Disease control authorities in the city of Foshan in Guangdong said on Wednesday that the EG.5 variant was gaining dominance among the strains in the city.

The EG.5 variant was first detected in February. It is a descendant of the Omicron variant XBB.1.9.2 and has a mutation that helps it evade antibodies developed by the immune system in response to earlier variants and vaccines.

loading
Advertisement