China Finds No New Covid Variants But Mutation Threat Lingers
- Little room for major mutations, top Chinese scientist says
- Some experts fear new Covid variant “will come in due course”
A vial containing swab samples at a Covid-19 testing site in Shanghai.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
China has yet to detect any dangerous Covid mutations in the six weeks since the virus was unleashed on the country’s 1.4 billion people after the abandonment of the rigid curbs that held the pathogen largely at bay.
That’s bolstering hope that a new variant after omicron — one that could set the world back in its attempts to move past the pandemic — is less likely to emerge, even as China contends with an explosive wave.