Primary assessment of the diversity of Omicron sublineages and the epidemiologic features of autumn/winter 2022 COVID-19 wave in Chinese mainland

doi:10.1007/s11684-022-0981-7

Frontiers of Medicine

2023, Vol. 17

Issue (4): 758-767 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11684-022-0981-7

本期目录

Primary assessment of the diversity of Omicron sublineages and the epidemiologic features of autumn/winter 2022 COVID-19 wave in Chinese mainland

Gang Lu¹, Yun Ling², Minghao Jiang¹, Yun Tan¹, Dong Wei³, Lu Jiang¹, Shuting Yu¹, Fangying Jiang¹, Shuai Wang¹, Yao Dai¹, Jinzeng Wang¹, Geng Wu⁴, Xinxin Zhang³, Guoyu Meng¹(

), Shengyue Wang¹(

), Feng Liu¹(

), Xiaohong Fan²(

), Saijuan Chen¹(

)

¹. Shanghai Institute of Hematology, National Research Center for Translational Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
². Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 200083, China
³. Department of Infectious Diseases, Research Laboratory of Clinical Virology, National Research Center for Translational Medicine, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
⁴. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, The Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic and Developmental Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

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Abstract：

With the recent ongoing autumn/winter 2022 COVID-19 wave and the adjustment of public health control measures, there have been widespread SARS-CoV-2 infections in Chinese mainland. Here we have analyzed 369 viral genomes from recently diagnosed COVID-19 patients in Shanghai, identifying a large number of sublineages of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron family. Phylogenetic analysis, coupled with contact history tracing, revealed simultaneous community transmission of two Omicron sublineages dominating the infections in some areas of China (BA.5.2 mainly in Guangzhou and Shanghai, and BF.7 mainly in Beijing) and two highly infectious sublineages recently imported from abroad (XBB and BQ.1). Publicly available data from August 31 to November 29, 2022 indicated an overall severe/critical case rate of 0.035% nationwide, while analysis of 5706 symptomatic patients treated at the Shanghai Public Health Center between September 1 and December 26, 2022 showed that 20 cases (0.35%) without comorbidities progressed into severe/critical conditions and 153 cases (2.68%) with COVID-19-exacerbated comorbidities progressed into severe/critical conditions. These observations shall alert healthcare providers to place more resources for the treatment of severe/critical cases. Furthermore, mathematical modeling predicts this autumn/winter wave might pass through major cities in China by the end of the year, whereas some middle and western provinces and rural areas would be hit by the upcoming infection wave in mid-to-late January 2023, and the duration and magnitude of upcoming outbreak could be dramatically enhanced by the extensive travels during the Spring Festival (January 21, 2023). Altogether, these preliminary data highlight the needs to allocate resources to early diagnosis and effective treatment of severe cases and the protection of vulnerable population, especially in the rural areas, to ensure the country’s smooth exit from the ongoing pandemic and accelerate socio-economic recovery.

Key words： SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 Omicron genomic epidemiology

收稿日期: 2022-12-28 出版日期: 2023-10-12

Corresponding Author(s): Guoyu Meng,Shengyue Wang,Feng Liu,Xiaohong Fan,Saijuan Chen

引用本文:

. [J]. Frontiers of Medicine, 2023, 17(4): 758-767.
Gang Lu, Yun Ling, Minghao Jiang, Yun Tan, Dong Wei, Lu Jiang, Shuting Yu, Fangying Jiang, Shuai Wang, Yao Dai, Jinzeng Wang, Geng Wu, Xinxin Zhang, Guoyu Meng, Shengyue Wang, Feng Liu, Xiaohong Fan, Saijuan Chen. Primary assessment of the diversity of Omicron sublineages and the epidemiologic features of autumn/winter 2022 COVID-19 wave in Chinese mainland. Front. Med., 2023, 17(4): 758-767.

链接本文:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fmd/CN/10.1007/s11684-022-0981-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fmd/CN/Y2023/V17/I4/758

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