JN.1 variant of COVID-19 now the dominant strain in China

The JN.1 variant of the COVID-19 virus has become the dominant strain in China, according to an update released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) on Monday.

The report showed that from February 1-29, a total of 358 new serious cases and 22 deaths from COVID-19 infections were reported across the country, with all deaths caused by combined infection with underlying diseases.

A total of 6,653 valid sequences of COVID-19 genomes were reported during February 1-29, all of which were Omicron variant strains, and the main one was the JN.1 variant. According to the sampling data, the proportion of XBB and its sub-branches has been decreasing recently, while the proportion of JN.1 and its sub-branches has been increasing.

Meanwhile, the number of fever outpatient consultations has fluctuated since dropping from 202,000 on February 1 to 116,000 on February 9. It rose to a monthly high of 211,000 on February 19, and fell to 158,000 on February 29.

The positive rate of COVID-19 in influenza-like cases increased from 3.3 percent from January 29 to February 4 to 14.3 percent from February 26 to March 3.