"China has already reached the COVID-19 peak"... Variants discovered in the U.S., Korea remains 'quiet'

As COVID-19 variant viruses spread and cause a resurgence mainly in the Chinese-speaking region, it is predicted that the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in China will peak and begin to decline from next month.

According to the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 25th, Chinese respiratory expert Dr. Zhong Nanshan stated at a science and technology event on the 24th that "the current COVID-19 outbreak is at its peak and is expected to decline starting from June."

Dr. Zhong Nanshan is known as China's Anthony Fauci, according to SCMP. He is recognized as a COVID-19 expert in his country. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), led NIAID for over 40 years until 2022 and was responsible for the U.S. pandemic response during the global outbreak.

According to a report released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the 8th, the positive rate of acute respiratory infections has been rising since April. During April alone, a total of 168,507 confirmed cases were identified nationwide. The CDC analyzed 5% of these cases and found that all were Omicron variants, with the main lineage being the XDV lineage. Recently, the culprit increasing confirmed cases in the Chinese-speaking region, NB.1.8.1, is also part of the XDV lineage.

Dr. Zhong Nanshan stated that the number of COVID-19 cases increased in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, and Norway between March and May. In fact, in Thailand, the number of confirmed cases from May 11 to 17 alone reached 33,030, more than doubling compared to the previous week. It is also analyzed that the spread of COVID-19 was exacerbated by the influence of the Songkran festival, Thailand's biggest holiday of the year, in April.

It has been found that COVID-19 variants have been detected not only in Chinese-speaking countries but also recently in the United States.

On the 24th, CBS and Fox News in the United States reported that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially confirmed the detection of NB.1.8.1, a variant of the XDV lineage that originated in China. However, the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. is fewer than 20. A CDC spokesperson told Fox News, "We are monitoring all variants and will include them in the official dashboard if their prevalence increases."

South Korea is relatively quiet. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the number of COVID-19 hospitalized patients at 221 sampled medical institutions nationwide during the second week of May (May 11-17) was 100, a decrease from 146 the previous week, showing slight fluctuations over the past four weeks while maintaining a similar level. During this period, the detection rate of the COVID-19 virus was 8.6%, a slight increase of 5.8 percentage points from 2.8% the previous week, and virus concentrations in wastewater surveillance also increased slightly by 3.6 percentage points compared to the previous week.

===========================================

Soon, with foreigners and Koreans coming in who get COVID, our country will probably become noisy again.

You should at least wear your mask properly to prevent the spread...