[deleted] t1_j28lnre wrote on December 30, 2022 at 12:54 PM

Reply to comment by keznaa in Australia will not require travellers from China to provide negative Covid test by Luka77GOATic

[removed]

keznaa t1_j28mrgt wrote on December 30, 2022 at 1:05 PM

>You are scaremongering and there are no reputable source stating that there are new, more dangerous variants of COVID spreading in China currently. It's Omicron, which exposure and western vaccinations protect from serious cases.

There are several new variants right now.

https://www.livescience.com/covid-what-we-know-about-new-omicron-variant-bf-7 >But what is this new variant, and should we be worried? Although reports from China(opens in new tab) about this variant's characteristics are concerning, it doesn't appear to be growing too much elsewhere in the world. Here's what we know. >BF.7, short for BA.5.2.1.7, is a sub-lineage of the omicron variant BA.5.

>Reports from China indicate BF.7 has the strongest infection ability(opens in new tab) out of the omicron subvariants in the country, being quicker to transmit than other variants, having a shorter incubation period, and with greater capacity to infect people who have had a previous COVID infection, or been vaccinated, or both.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202211/1280588.shtml

Since this article used that website as well I will assume it's probably legit. These new variants are subvariants of Omicron but they have their own names because they aren't like the original omicron variant anymore. They mutated and are more contagious and more deadly because it can hide from vaccine antibodies. This article is a little older so I'm unsure how much it's changed since. You seem to be saying that they have the original omicron before the new mutations which isn't true.

>Omicron BF.7 has become the main strain in Beijing's latest COVID-19 flare-up, with the virus possessing the strongest infection ability across the family of Omicron sub-variants in China and posing the risk of hidden spread, causing difficulty on virus prevention and control, according to Beijing Daily on Monday, citing a Chinese medical expert.

schu4KSU t1_j28n3mw wrote on December 30, 2022 at 1:08 PM

omicron = variant

BA.x = subvariant

That's the convention.

keznaa t1_j28o4jp wrote on December 30, 2022 at 1:18 PM

.....I've been saying it's a subvariants this whole time. You seem to not understand that the new subvariants aren't like the original omicron. omicron was the most contagious when it became the dominant strain but was less deadly than the other variants.the new subvariant that mutated from the original Omicron,however, are much more contagious than the original omicron and far deadlier than the original omicron. You suggesting that the vaccine will protect people the same way it had before is just not true. Before there was a high chance of someone not getting covid at all if they were vaccinated. Now it's just that it may keep people out of the hospital and ICU if they are vaccinated with a boosters. Most people didn't get a booster at all let alone the new boosters that just came out. But these variants have shown that they can hide from the antibodies as well. Which is why Pfizer and the like were scrambling for a better vaccine overall.