The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) has ruled out that the increase of COVID-19 cases in China will affect the epidemiological situation in Europe, mainly due to the high immunity of the European population and the fact that no new variants have been produced.
«The variants circulating in China are already circulating in the EU, so they do not pose a challenge to the immune response of EU/EEA citizens. In addition, European citizens have relatively high levels of immunization and vaccination,» the European agency said in a statement.
In this sense, the ECDC insists that «given the higher immunity of the population in the EU/EEA, as well as the previous emergence and subsequent replacement of the variants currently circulating in China by other variants of omicron in Europe, an increase of cases in China is not expected to affect the epidemiological situation of COVID-19 in the EU/EEA».
Currently in China the main variants circulating are omicron-derived, with BA.5.2 as the most dominant (35%), followed by BF.7 (24%), BQ.1 (18%), BA.2.75 (5%), XBB (4%) and BA.2 (2%). In addition, from travel-related cases, BA.5.6, BA.4.6, BM.4.1.1 and BA.2.3.20 variants have also been detected circulating in China. No new variants have been detected.
The number of COVID-19 cases has reached a record high in China, with a peak on December 2. In the last three weeks, the incidence has decreased, probably also due to less testing, resulting in fewer infections being detected.
In any case, the ECDC notes that «there remains a lack of reliable data on COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions, deaths, as well as intensive care unit (ICU) capacity and occupancy in China.»
«High levels of SARS-CoV-2 infections and increased pressure on healthcare services in China due to low population immunity and relaxation of non-pharmaceutical interventions are expected in the coming weeks,» they predict.
The ECDC, together with EU/EEA Member States and the European Commission, has increased its surveillance activities and has advanced that it will «review risk assessments and adjust actions if necessary.»
In addition, the European agency says it is working «closely» with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Europe and globally, and is in «regular contact» with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and major CDCs worldwide.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
