英专家：没理由认为来自中国的毒株更危险

据央视新闻报道，近日，英国病毒学家温蒂·巴克利（Wendy Barclay）在接受美联社采访时表示，从病毒演变的角度来看，“新冠XBB.1.5毒株的传染性确实很强，我们认为它的基本传染数（R值）非常高。”

来自英国帝国理工学院的巴克利表示，“中国流行的毒株，实际上是从我们这里，从世界上其它地方传播过去的，我们（欧美）已经流行过这些毒株。所以，没有理由认为来自中国的毒株会更危险。”

"XBB.1.5 is very good at transmitting, so we think that its R number (Basic reproduction number) is quite high. The viruses that they (China) got were from us, from the rest of the world. We've already seen those viruses, so there's no reason to think that more dangerous viruses are going to come out from China," Prof Wendy Barclay from Imperial College London said.

The CDC projected on Dec 30 that about 40% of confirmed U.S. Covid cases are caused by the XBB.1.5 strain. In the Northeast, about 75% of confirmed cases are reported to be XBB.1.5.

Covid hospital admissions have been rising in recent weeks across the US, and the government has restarted its free testing program.

Figures from the Sanger Institute, one of the UK's largest Covid surveillance centres, shows 4 per cent of cases in the week to December 17 — the latest date data are available for — were caused by XBB.1.5.

Experts fear the strain, thought to be the most transmissible yet, will accelerate the UK's winter wave and put the ailing NHS under even more pressure in the weeks ahead.

XBB.1.5 has also been detected in countries including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Australia, Singapore and India.