From the article:

> No novel Covid-19 variants have emerged in China, according to a global consortium that’s tracking coronavirus mutations, potentially easing concerns that the country’s record wave of infections would give rise to new strains that could circulate around the world.

> National, provincial and private health-care authorities in the country have provided nearly 1,000 genetic sequences from infected patients to GISAID in the past five days, said Chief Executive Officer Peter Bogner. So far, all the samples continue to be omicron, though subvariants that have hit other parts of the world – including XBB.1 and BQ.1.1 – have emerged, he said.

> “The variants continue to circulate without any significant changes that raise any specter of concern,” Bogner said. “You do not have any kind of data that suggest anything but business as usual.”

> China is also ramping up efforts to track mutations, with the recent upload of sequencing data comparing with just 25 samples submitted in the previous month, he said.

Financial Times has some more details, says the two dominant subvariants are both BA.5 sub-subvariants:

https://www.ft.com/content/e9d2c4ee-5f41-458f-9980-77a27f3bd093

> A research team at a major Beijing university that has begun submitting sequenced samples from the city said about 80 per cent of their specimens were the Omicron sub-variant BF.7, while 20 per cent were BA.5.2. Both are spin-offs of the BA.5 strain.

> “The sample size is small so we still need more data to figure out the full picture,” said a member of the research team who asked to not be named.

> The findings are consistent with statements from Chinese health officials who have said the two Omicron sub-variants are responsible for the majority of the cases in the country, as well as other samples uploaded to Gisaid from Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan and other provinces.

This is still concerning, because it looks like the new recombinant XBB strain evades humoral immunity from earlier Omicron strains. I got it within a month of getting over an earlier COVID infection, despite being up to date on my boosters. With vaccination rates low in China, and with the spectre of XBB rising, I'm concerned that China will experience back-to-back waves of infections, with the second wave coming as soon as the end of January, if the current wave continues to be powered by earlier-emerging Omicron variants.

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.....surely I'm not the only one who initially read Peter's last name as Booger.

Not trustful

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