Omicron new variant CH.1.1 appears in more than 60 countries, experts: there is a certain immune escape

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On Jan. 30, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is tracking the new crown new strain called CH.1.1, which accounts for 1.5 percent of cases in the U.S. and ranks fifth in terms of percentage, according to the latest data from the CDC.

In an interview with the People’s Daily Health Client, Zhao Wei, director of the Center for Biosafety Research at the School of Public Health of Southern Medical University, noted that the CH.1.1 virus variant is one of the Omicron subvariants monitored by the WHO.

In which areas does it appear?

According to the outbreak tracking data website Outbreak.info, New Zealand is currently experiencing many cases of CH.1.1. Other hotspots include Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Ireland and others. The strain has been detected in more than 60 countries and 51 U.S. states.

A previously published pre-printed paper on the subject by researchers at Ohio State University showed that CH.1.1 emerged in Southeast Asia, causing more than a quarter of infections in parts of the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

How pathogenic is it?

The aforementioned paper noted that a mutation called L452R, which is normally absent in the Omicron strain and has been seen in the Delta strain, was found in CH.1.1. In addition, the researchers noted that CH.1.1 binds well to the ACE2 receptor, the receptor that mediates the entry of new coronaviruses into host cells, suggesting that the virus is likely to at least partially override some of the antibodies produced as a result of prior infection or vaccination.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CH.1.1 accounts for 1.5% of cases in the U.S. as of Jan. 28, 2023, which is the fifth highest percentage. “From the data, it appears that the CH.1.1 virus variant has some immune escape ability and may cause new infections, but does not have a significantly enhanced pathogenic capacity in the population.” Zhao Wei said.

Will it affect our country?

“According to the official website of the CDC informing the national epidemic of novel coronavirus infection, the epidemic strains in China recently remain BA.5.2 and BF.7, and no new variant strains have been found.” Zhao Wei said, “This shows on the one hand that our national quarantine work is effective and can prevent the large-scale entry of new mutant strains from abroad into our country. On the other hand, the large-scale epidemic in China has just been controlled, and the immune barrier of the population is at a relatively high level, so we can judge that the recent Omicron subvariant is less threatening to our country.”