Beijing, Nov 30, : , China said Tuesday that it is ready to deal with the newly-detected Omicron Coronavirus variant and that it is confident that its zero-Covid response, along with the mainstream tests, will prevent transmission, media reports stated. Global Times reported that Xu Wenbo from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, stated that the vaccines developed in China are still effective against the new mutated variant.
However, they have made technological reserve preparations in vaccine design.
Inactivated vaccine, protein-subunit vaccine or adenovirus vector vaccination producers have begun to study the new variant and are currently in the process of gene sequencing design.
Xu stated that Omicron’s mutations have caused concern but that current vaccines, either inactivated mRNA and protein subunit technologies, or the second-generation vaccines are still effective and can reduce the severity of severe diseases and death.
Omicron is a SARS-CoV member and cannot break the immune barrier completely.There is also T-cell immunity.
Xu also stated that Omicron could enter China, but its zero-Covid response and the design of Covid test, would easily detect the variant, which is more virulent, and prevent community transmission, according to the South China Morning Post.
Omicron can be handled by China’s nucleic acids test kits, he stated, adding that the Chinese CDC designed the main tests in China based on the open reading frame (ORF), group of genes.Therefore, the sensitivity and specificity would not be affected by Omicron.
“Omicron was not only present in Africa, but also (many other countries outside Africa), which might have caused it to spread in the community, which means that the variant has a high likelihood of being introduced into China,” Xu, chief of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention was quoted as saying to China Central Television.
He said, “The mainline test kits in China are capable of dealing with the introduction Omicron variant.”
He said that China’s current Covid-19 response strategy should be sufficient to tackle the Omicron variant.This strategy will allow the country to continue conducting detailed surveys on gene testing and epidemiology.
The National Health Commission (NHC), previously stated that the new variant does no affect the sensitivity to China’s main nucleic acid testing kit.The NHC stated that the variant was not detected in any other Chinese locations than Hong Kong.The report stated that China’s current strategy to prevent imported cases and domestic flare ups is still effective in fighting the variant.
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