Corona continues to spread in China, and two strains of Omicron raise the concerns of scientists

Yesterday, Saturday, China recorded 8,329 new confirmed cases of the “Corona” virus, while scientists in South Africa announced that there are two sub-strains of the mutated or micron of the Corona virus that can deceive the immune bodies formed in the body from previous infections with the virus.

The National Health Committee of China announced on Sunday that the mainland recorded 8,329 new confirmed cases of corona on Saturday, down from 10,793 cases the previous day.

Among the new infections, 920 were symptomatic, down from 1,424 that were recorded, and 7,409 were asymptomatic, down from 9,369.

Excluding cases from outside the mainland, China recorded 916 new cases of locally transmitted symptoms, down from 1410 the previous day, and 7340 new cases without symptoms, down from 9,293.

The authorities said that the mainland of China has so far recorded 216,587 confirmed cases.

In addition, scientists in South Africa concluded that two sub-strains of the mutant Omicron of Corona can fool the immune bodies formed in the body from previous infections with Corona enough to cause a new outbreak, but they are less able to coexist in the blood of those who received the vaccines to prevent the disease.

Scientists from more than one institution examined the BA4 and BA5 sub-strains of Omicron, which the World Health Organization added last month to its watch list. Scientists drew blood samples from 39 participants who had been infected with Omicron when it first appeared at the end of last year.

Fifteen of them had received prophylactic vaccinations, 8 with Pfizer and 7 with Johnson & Johnson, while the rest did not receive a prophylactic vaccine.

"The group that received the vaccines showed the ability to neutralize the virus more than five times ... and therefore they are better protected," said the study, whose preliminary version was published at the weekend.

As for the samples that were drawn from those who did not receive the vaccines, there was an 8-fold decrease in the production of antibodies when exposed to the two sub-strains compared to the original strain of Omicron BA1. The blood samples of those who received the vaccine showed a decrease of only three times.