Ahead of a meeting with the World Health Organization, China has uploaded genomic sequence data from hundreds of freshly collected Covid-19 cases across the nation to the worldwide database GISAID.
As a consequence of their worries over the present outbreak and the possibility that new strains would arise as a result, a growing number of nations have implemented additional limitations on travellers from China.
Prior to a meeting of a technical advisory committee on the evolution of the virus on Tuesday, the WHO said on Friday that it had asked Chinese experts to give comprehensive data on viral sequencing.
The information was provided over the new year's holiday weekend and was gathered from various regions of the nation, including Beijing, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangzhou, Sichuan, Zhejiang, and Inner Mongolia.
No new strains of the virus had been found, according to a statement on the GISAID website, and the dominating strains were the Omicron subvariants BA. 5.2, BF. 7, BA. 2.75, and BQ. 1.1.
In addition, the data suggested that Inner Mongolia may have been the source of BF. 7 outbreaks in Beijing and Fujian, whereas the data from Shanghai revealed a number of other recognised lineages from several distinct imports.
Eighty percent of the cases now occurring in China, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, are caused by the BA. 5.2 and BF. 7 variants.
The WHO has requested that Chinese health officials frequently disclose detailed and up-to-date information on the outbreak in their nation, including more genetic sequencing data, information on hospitalisations, admissions to critical care units, deaths, and immunisation records.
Additionally, the organisation for global health has exhorted it to improve clinical management, impact evaluation, and viral sequencing.
A more thorough risk assessment of the circumstance in China, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO.
We're still worried about how things are going, so we keep urging China to monitor the COVID19 virus and immunise those who are most at danger. He said on Twitter on Friday, "We continue to give our support for clinical treatment and defending its health system.
Since the nation's tight zero-Covid limits were eased last month, Chinese authorities and the WHO have met twice, according to Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission.
China is ready to keep cooperating with the WHO and the rest of the world's nations to help put a stop to the Covid-19 outbreak, Mi added.
According to him, China and the WHO have been in close contact for the past three years, and the two have had more than 60 technical exchanges in fields including Covid-19 origin-tracing, vaccine research, and epidemic prevention.
A number of nations have announced new entry requirements for visitors from China as the country reopens after three years of Covid isolation, while others, like Italy and Japan, need a negative test upon arrival.
Some nations, notably the US, blamed the shift on China's ignorance of genome sequencing and Covid-19 variations.
The Sars-CoV-2 virus continues to evolve in nations all over the world. However, limited testing, case reporting, and exchange of viral genomic sequence data in [China] might cause a delay.
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