China reports fewer visits to clinics, no new strains

China has seen a broad decrease in patients visiting fever clinics over the Spring Festival period, the country health official said. The numbers had increased since the Spring Festival ended but were still lower than before the holiday and there had been a 94 percent decrease since 23 December.

A senior researcher from Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said they'd studied 1,421 COVID genome sequences received from across the country during the Spring Festival and found 11 evolutionary branches but no new mutant strains.With China facing another surge in travel after the holiday, the official urged caution in the face of a possible new wave of infections.The focus on the elderly may be of particular urgency given the low rates of vaccination for that age group.