Experts say that ordinary people will be infected 1-3 times a year, and the COVID-19 mutant strain EG.5 is prevalent in Foshan and other places | COVID-19 | mutation
Guide: Considering the current situation, Lu Hongzhou, the president of the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen, believes that COVID-19 is still very infectious, the infection is relatively hidden, and the virus is relatively "cunning".
On August 16, the official account of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Foshan City issued a document saying that the monitoring project of the local COVID-19 variation showed that the EG.5 variant was gradually dominant among the epidemic strains in Foshan City.
The Foshan Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that overall, the harm caused by the mutated strain EG.5 is within a controllable range, and there is no need to worry about the potential impact of EG.5 on a new round of the epidemic.
According to previous data from the World Health Organization, the prevalence of EG.5 in China increased from 24.7% to 45% during the week of July 17-23.
It is reported that the COVID-19 mutant EG. 5 is still an Omikron mutant, and it is the "offspring" of COVID-19 virus sub variant XBB. 1.9.2. For EG.5 and its sub variant EG.5.1, EG.5.1 has two important additional mutations that XBB.1.9.2 does not have, namely F456L and Q52H, while EG.5 only has the F456L mutation. The additional minor changes in EG. 5.1, namely the Q52H mutation in the spike protein, give it an advantage in transmission compared to EG. 5.
In order to fully understand the situation of the epidemic, collect the spread of the virus in the population, and more accurately study and judge the future trend of the epidemic, Foshan has carried out a variety of COVID-19 mutant monitoring projects, including monitoring the case samples collected by sentinel hospitals and imported case samples, monitoring the aggregated epidemic and epidemic samples in key places, and focusing on the samples of severe and dead patients.
Foshan CDC also stated that according to comprehensive analysis, the epidemic is currently in a sporadic period and will continue to maintain a stable trend in the future.
Will COVID-19 EG. 5 mutant contribute to "Sanyang"? In response, Professor Lu Hongzhou, the director of Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, told First Financial reporters that based on the current epidemic situation in Shenzhen, the number of "three positive" cases is still relatively low, with "two positive" cases being the main focus.
Lu Hongzhou said that since August, the number of COVID-19 patients diagnosed by his hospital every day is mostly about 5, and the number of COVID-19 inpatients is about 2, mainly due to the combination of advanced age, diabetes, renal insufficiency, tumor and other basic diseases. The hospitalized patients of COVID-19 are generally overweight and accompanied by obvious pneumonia. A few people have not been vaccinated, but there are few deaths of COVID-19 at present.
"Based on the strong infectivity of COVID-19, the antibody naturally attenuates after receiving COVID-19 and there is no absolute protective COVID-19 vaccine, basically most people will be infected 1-3 times a year." Lu Hongzhou told the reporter of First Finance and Economics, "but for people with normal immune function, it will not cause a special impact."
He believes that as long as the variation of COVID-19 is not completely separated from the branch of Omicron, the human body will have cross immune memory. "For example, when the body encounters EG.5 COVID-19, it will react faster and produce antibodies," said Lu Hongzhou.
However, he pointed out that we need to be alert to the emergence of COVID-19, a new strain with strong immune escape and pathogenicity. Therefore, we should still do a good job in tracking the variation of COVID-19.
Considering the current situation, Lu Hongzhou believes that COVID-19 is still very infectious, and the infection is relatively hidden, and the virus is relatively "cunning". Therefore, the infection of COVID-19 is not seasonal. Generally, there will be a small peak in 5-6 months, but the peak will be smaller and smaller in general, which has no impact on the overall epidemic prevention and control of the country.
Lu Hongzhou suggested that people with low immune function, such as the elderly, diabetes and basic tumor diseases, should receive COVID-19 vaccine regularly every year. Vaccination strategies can include nasal spray vaccine and subcutaneous injection vaccine combined immunization, multivalent COVID-19 combination vaccine.