Covid-19 variant Eris takes hold in China but public health risk is low

A new strain of Covid-19 spread throughout China over the summer to account for over 70 per cent of infections but its public health risk remains low, according to health authorities.

“The proportion of the EG.5 variant among circulating strains of the coronavirus grew from 0.6 per cent in April to 71.6 per cent in August. It has become the dominant strain in most provinces in China and is likely to continue this trend,” the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on its WeChat account on Saturday.