Recently, some netizens posted pictures of their positive antigen tests on Chinese social media, claiming they were "re-infected" with COVID-19. Discussion of re-infection with COVID-19 has become trendy on Chinese social media after a bunch of users posted positive antigen results for the coronavirus.
Speaking at a forum on Thursday, Zhang Wenhong, head of the infectious disease department at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, also director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, said that monitoring data showed that most of the current infections in China are people who haven't contracted the virus before.
Zhang noted that if the coronavirus mutates, some people will be re-infected after six months. But the scale will not be huge. However, if the mutation manages to break the immune barrier formed during the previous wave, an infection peak will come.
Although the scale won't be as huge as the previous wave, Zhang still called for stockpiling of small molecule antivirals of COVID-19, and at the same time establishing a model that could treat COVID-19 patients within 48 hours.
"I believe constant monitoring, warnings and stockpiling of medicines will enable us to respond rapidly to any mutations and run faster than the next infection," said Zhang.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), which has been monitoring COVID-19 infection numbers and new variants, said on Sunday that health departments reported 2,661 positive COVID-19 cases nationwide on Thursday.
The China CDC claimed it had detected 12 new variants in this country. The center had found 42 cases of XBB.1.16 - referred to as "arcturus"— which has been the dominant variant in India since March. The China CDC assured the public, saying that there are a very small number of XBB.1.16 carriers, which have yet to form a transmission trend.
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