There could be a new coronaviruses on the planet.
Scientists don't know if that will happen It could be like the omicron variant that is circulating there now. It could be more than one strain. They say it's something completely different.
There is limited immunity in China, a population that is very large. An explosion of a new variant is possible in that location, according to Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray.
There is a chance for the coronaviruses to change, and it is happening in China. The country has largely stopped using the policy. Older people are less likely to have high booster levels. Western-made vaccines have been shown to be less effective against serious infections than domestic ones. immunity waned due to the fact that many were given more than a year ago.
What did the result look like? The virus needs fertile ground to grow.
Ray said that when they have seen big waves of infections it is often followed by new ones.
Three years ago, the original version of the coronaviruses spread from China to the rest of the world and was replaced by the delta variant, which is still causing problems today.
The current surge is thought to be due to the fact that many existing omicron variant have been detected in China.
China has a partially immune population that puts pressure on the virus. The virus is similar to a boxer that learns to evade the skills that you have and adapt to get around those, said Ray.
Is a new variant going to cause more severe disease? There is no biological reason for the virus to become milder.
Much of the mildness we've experienced over the past six to 12 months in many parts of the world has been due to accumulated immunity.
Most people in China haven't been exposed to the coronaviruses. China's vaccines rely on an older technology that produces less antibodies.
It remains to be seen if the same pattern of evolution will occur in China as it has in the rest of the world, according to Dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies viruses at the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India. She wanted to know if the pattern of evolution would be different.
There are reports of severe disease in China. Hospitals in the Beijing area have run out of intensive care beds and staff as cases increase.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will collect samples from walk-in patients who are very sick and those who die every week in order to track the disease.
50 of the 130 omicron versions were found in China. He said that the country was creating a national genetic database to monitor in real time how different strains were evolving.
Jeremy Luban, a virologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said that there is limited information about the genetics of viral infections.
Luban said they don't know what's happening. It's clear that the epidemic is not over.
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The report was contributed to by a video producer and a reporter.
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The Howard Hughes Medical Institute supports the AP Health and Science Department. The AP doesn't have any responsibility for the rest of the content.
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