The city of Shanghai has discovered a Covid-19 case involving a new omicron subvariant BA.5.2.1, an official said on Sunday, signaling the complications China faces in keeping up with new mutations as it seeks to implement its “covid-19” policy. zero”.
The case, found in the Pudong Financial District on July 8, was linked to an overseas case, said Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the city’s Health Commission.
Shanghai, in eastern China, emerged from a two-month lockdown in early June but continued to impose tough restrictions, closing buildings and complexes as potential new transmission chains emerged.
“Our city has recently continued to report more locally transmitted positive cases (of Covid-19) and the risk of the epidemic spreading through society remains very high,” warned Zhao of the Shanghai Health Commission.
He said residents of several key districts in Shanghai would undergo two rounds of Covid testing from July 12 to 14 in a bid to control potential new outbreaks.
The BA.5 omicron variant, which is driving a new wave of Covid-19 infections abroad, was first discovered in China on May 13 in a 37-year-old patient who had flown to Shanghai from Uganda. , according to the China Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
The BA.5 variant has been shown to have an accelerated transmission rate and enhanced immune-escape ability, Yuan Zhengan, a member of the city’s expert advisory group on Covid prevention, said in an interview on Sunday.
But vaccination is still effective in preventing BA.5 from causing serious illness or death, he added.
Source: CNN Brasil
