China’s CDC Reports New COVID-19 Cases Hit Nearly 20 Percent

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China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that new COVID-19 infections in the country of origin have increased to nearly 20 percent in the past few weeks, as two new Omicron subvariants spread across the country.

But while the rate of infection in China’s official data mirrors that of the rest of the world, the number of reported COVID-19 deaths in China remain orders of magnitude lower than is expected for a country of its population size, given the ongoing reports of COVID-19-related deaths in other countries.

According to an Aug. 8 report—which was issued on the same day as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its biweekly update—China’s CDC reported that the COVID-19 positive rate for influenza-like cases in China has spiked from 8.9 percent in the first week of July to 18.7 percent in the last week of July. Official data indicate that the transmission rate has been consistently lower than 8 percent since the start of the year.

China’s health authority also reported 203 new severe cases of COVID-19 and two deaths nationwide for July. The prevalent strains linked to the total 7,042 COVID-19 cases reported nationwide were the JN.1 and XDV Omicron variants, it said.

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) monitoring data from 84 countries, the overall COVID-19 test positivity rate is above 10 percent but varies by region. That percentage has been rising for weeks, it said.

China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been accused by the international community of downplaying and covering up the true scale of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the country since late 2019, when COVID-19 first broke out in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

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New Omicron Subvariants

The U.S. CDC said the KP.3.1.1 variant is now the most common strain in the United States—followed by KP.3, LB.1, KP.2.3, and KP.2, which are all subvariants of the same parent strain JN.1—and that there was no evidence the new variant was causing more severe symptoms.

Meanwhile, China’s CDC said subvariants of the Omicron strains XDV and JN.1 were contributing to the most COVID-19 cases in the past four weeks.

The official Chinese reporting said that Omicron subvariant XDV and its descendants accounted for between 38–43 percent of infections, while Omicron subvariant JN.1 and its descendants—including subvariants JN.1.7, JN.1.18, KP.2, KP.3, and LB.1—accounted for between 55–60 percent of infections.

In the United States, CDC data showed that as of Aug. 8, XDV.1 subvariant only accounted for 0.3 percent of cases in the country—a reduction from previous months.

Dr. Dong Yuhong, an infectious disease specialist and senior medical columnist for The Epoch Times, said on Aug. 9 that the subvariants “KP.3 and KP.2 have similar virological and epidemiological characteristics” but that their infection rate has increased and they have a stronger ability to evade any antibodies people have from past infections or vaccination.”

China’s latest vaccine targeted the XBB.1.5 variant, she said, which belongs to a different sublineage of the shared parental BA.2 Omicron variant.

Dong said that while there are again signs of increased COVID-19 transmission, it remains unclear whether there could be the re-emergence of another deadly COVID-19 strain that could cause another pandemic, and that COVID-19 “requires continuous monitoring and close observation.”

She added that as the “speed of vaccine development can’t keep up with the virus’ continuous mutation, simply depending on vaccines is unsafe and unreliable.”

“We have an innate multi-immune barrier in each of us,” she said of the immune system of a healthy individual. “As long as we pay attention to strengthening and protecting it, it will be effective.”

She advised everyone to “avoid bad habits that damage immunity, such as smoking, drinking, staying up late, etc., and develop more good habits that enhance immunity, such as regular exercise, meditation, and improving our capacity to regulate our emotions.”

“That’s a positive approach to dealing with epidemics,” she said.

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No Transparency, Trust

After years of controlled releases of approved official data, censorship of whistleblowers, and mandating COVID-19 restrictions and prolonged lockdowns all across China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) suddenly reversed course and lifted all its restrictions, testing, and reporting about COVID-19 in 2022—but continued with its lack of transparency, leaving many Chinese feeling that they are unable to trust their institutions and still in the dark about the true seriousness of the COVID epidemic in the country.

The Chinese regime’s experts estimated that 80 percent of China’s population was infected with COVID-19 at the end of 2022 when its restrictions were lifted.

Recent posts by Chinese doctors on Chinese social media heightened the populace’s fear, with a number saying that a more contagious COVID-19 variant is responsible for causing China’s new infections.

Hu Yang, a chief physician of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital and associate professor at Tongji University, said in a video posted on Chinese social media that with the recent wave of COVID-19 infections, some young people have also been found to be suffering severe infections in their lungs and exhibiting white lung symptoms.

“With the virus causing COVID-19 still mutating, the dominant virus strain [in China] has become XDV, which is more contagious, and many people have been infected again,” Hu said. “At present, XDV mutant strains can still spread in high-temperature environments.”

Feng Ge, a member of the China Association for Research and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine, wrote on Chinese social media on Aug. 4 that “currently, there are two new most poisonous subvariants spreading—XDV and KP.3.” KP.3 is a subvariant of the Omicron lineage JN.1.

He warned that children have been more vulnerable to the new subvariants and that parents should not treat it like a simple cold.

Director Guo Kai, deputy chief physician of the Department of Pediatrics at the Wangjing Hospital in Beijing, posted on Chinese Weibo on Aug. 2 that the new variant KP.3 has been “fierce” and that four types of pediatric medicines should be kept on hand.

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Reports of Youth Infections and Deaths

Many international observers, like U.S.-based Sean Lin, microbiologist and assistant professor in the Biomedical Science Department at Feitian College, New York, say that the Chinese regime continues to hide information about COVID-19 cases in China.

“The Chinese government has concealed the number of people who have died from COVID-19,” Lin told The Epoch Times in an interview on Aug. 9.

“I think many elderly people with poor immunity may have already died in the past multiple waves of COVID-19 in China. And now, it’s spreading rampantly among young people.”

Lin said that now, KP.3 in China has the momentum to replace some of the other JN.1 subvariants causing the rise in infections.

“However, I think the situation in China is not just a problem of virus mutation, because this variant also occurs in other parts of the world. I think it is that the immune systems of so many ​​young Chinese people have been exhausted. I think China’s problem is a comprehensive health problem,” he said.

“But the situation in China is different,” he said.

Local resident Mr. Yang from Huzhu County, Qinghai Province in northwest China, who withheld his first name out of fear for his safety, told The Epoch Times in early August that there have been several families around him in which their children were infected with COVID-19.

“The outbreak is still very serious in some places,” he said.

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Yang also noted that there have been known incidents of “many people of all ages dying very suddenly.” This is despite all of them having received COVID-19 vaccines for earlier variants, he noted.

Mr. Cao, a resident of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province in Southeast China who also asked to withhold his first name, told The Epoch Times that locals believe there have consistently been people infected with COVID-19 in recent years, despite the lack of testing and reporting.

“Unexplained sudden deaths also occur from time to time,” he said. Some of his relatives and friends have been among the casualties.

Another Mr. Yang, a citizen of Nanyang in Henan Province in central China, also told The Epoch Times that local fever clinics have consistently been busy. “But doctors don’t tell patients the truth. They go around it and won’t tell you anything.”

He said that some locals are suspected to have died from COVID-19, including many young people.

“I went to the hospital and there were quite some people in their twenties and thirties who died. There were more people who had myocardial infarction [a known side effect of COVID-19 vaccinations]. Many of us know that there is no way to solve it.”

In dealing with the ongoing infections and side effects, Lin suggested that Chinese people abandon the CCP’s materialism and atheism, which gives people no mental solace or moral support, and look for meaning and hope in China’s own rich spiritual traditions, “whether it’s Buddhism, Taoism, or Falun Gong.”

“There are too many examples of pandemics in history that show many people could handle it if they had faith and can maintain a kind heart. This is still very important,” he said. “After all, I think it gives people all over the world a chance to survive amidst all kinds of hardships.”

Luo Ya, Fang Xiao, Xiong Bin, and Melanie Sun contributed to this report.

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