Fuss over China's coronavirus situation unwarranted, says Cyprus virologist

NICOSIA, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Worry and panic over reports about a surge of coronavirus cases in China are excessive and unwarranted, a leading Cypriot virologist said here on Tuesday.

"So far, there is no particular cause for concern because the COVID-19 variant that prevails in China was detected in Cyprus months ago and it doesn't seem to pose much of a problem," Petros Karayiannis, professor of microbiology and molecular virology at the University of Nicosia Medical School, said.

Karayiannis is a member of the scientific team advising the government on the handling of the pandemic.

"Because it concerns Omicron variants, I believe that perhaps it was somewhat excessive that there was such a fuss," Karayiannis told the CyBC state radio.

He said that the Omicron subvariant BF.7, a spin-off of the main BA.5 strain, is thought to be responsible for a small percentage of COVID-19 cases in Cyprus and it has not been found to cause more severe symptoms than the other Omicron variants.

Karayiannis said that in his view the virus mutates to increase its transmissibility and to survive, but in doing so it does not become more pestiferous.

According to Karayiannis, the current situation in Cyprus is not causing a concern to medical authorities as new COVID-19 cases have stabilized at about 2,700 per week in a population of less than one million.