Fever Clinic of Peking University International Hospital Photo: VCG

 
There were 164 COVID-19 related deaths and 2,777 severe cases in May across the Chinese mainland, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese CDC) said in a report on Sunday.
 
According to the Chinese CDC, the severe cases and deaths mainly occurred among the elderly and people with underlying health conditions, with the average age of fatalities 79.3 years old. The number of fever clinic visits, severe cases, and deaths related to COVID-19 in May was higher than in April, but the overall number remains well down from the epidemic peak at the end of 2022, according to the report. 
 
From February to early April, there have been sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks nationwide. The number of cases has gradually increased from late April but the rise in cases has slowed in late May with infection numbers currently on a downward trend.
 
China's top respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan said on May 22 that by late June, as many as 65 million people a week could become infected with COVID-19 across China.
 
The testing of a total of 14,732 locally transmitted COVID-19 samples in May showed all virus cases were linked to the Omicron variant, covering 160 evolutionary lineages. The Chinese CDC said XBB variants remained dominant, covering 92.4 percent of the new cases from May 22 to May 28 whereas the proportion was 84.6 percent from May 1 to May 7.
 
A recombinant trivalent COVID-19 trimeric protein vaccine developed by WestVac Biopharma and West China Medical Center at Sichuan University, effective against the most recent XBB variants, has received emergency use approval in China. This marks the world's first approved XBB-targeting vaccine, highlighting China's leading position in COVID-19 vaccine research and development, WestVac Biopharma announced on Thursday.
 
The newly approved XBB-specialized vaccine will effectively help the country and the world combat the virus in the post-pandemic era, experts said.