COVID epidemic at low level but may rise during Chinese New Year: health authority

The National Health Commission (NHC) on Sunday said that at present, the COVID-19 epidemic is at a low level in China, but recent surveillance data showed positive case reports have increased slightly, suggesting that the epidemic is on the rise. Due to factors such as the inter-regional movement of people and the increase of crowd gathering around the Spring Festival, the number of COVID-19 cases is expected to rise, said the health authority.

Currently, the JN.1 variant of the COVID-19 virus has become the dominant strain in local cases in China, with mainly mild infections, Chen Cao, a researcher at the Institute of Viral Diseases of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention , said at a press conference.

Influenza shows a downward trend, but it is still the most important pathogen of respiratory disease infection, and other respiratory diseases are at a low level. The press conference also revealed that in February, epidemics of multiple respiratory diseases will continue to spread in China. The flu is expected to fall to a low level around the Spring Festival holiday (February 10-17).

Mi Feng, spokesperson for the NHC, stated that the mass movement and gathering of people makes it easy to accelerate the spread of respiratory diseases, and respiratory diseases will still maintain a certain epidemic level before and after the Spring Festival.

Li Tongzeng, the chief physician of the infection department at Beijing You’an Hospital, said that in his hospital, influenza B cases still rank as the highest, with COVID-19 ranking second. Influenza B is still the main type of flu, with a decrease in cases, while the proportion of COVID-19 cases has increased recently, Li noted.

During the Spring Festival holiday, many people visit their elderly relatives, which means the infection rate among the elderly may increase, Li warned.