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, according to 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 (China CDC), said at a press conference on Sunday.
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, according to the press conference.
The press conference 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).
Data shows that the situation of acute respiratory diseases in China has declined for two consecutive weeks after reaching a peak in early December 2023. Cases picked up slightly at the end of December, continued to fluctuate at a high level and declined in the past three weeks.
