China Finds No New Covid Variants Amid Massive New Year Migration

(Bloomberg) — No new Covid-19 variants were detected in China during the Lunar New Year holiday when millions of people returned to their hometowns, a mass migration that could help the virus spread in the world’s most populous country.

The virus circulating during the holiday, which began Jan. 21, consists of older omicron strains known as BA.5.2 and BF.7, said Chen Cao, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at a briefing Monday in Beijing. There were 1,421 viral sequences submitted for analysis by various provinces across the country during the seven-day holiday, Chen said.