China medical expert says COVID has mutated, should be renamed - state media - Yahoo News

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China should alteration its authoritative sanction for COVID-19 to bespeak the virus' mutation, and patients with airy symptoms should beryllium allowed to quarantine astatine home, a starring authorization connected accepted Chinese medicine was quoted arsenic saying connected Wednesday.

Gu Xiaohong told the state-run Beijing Daily paper that the coronavirus' Chinese name, which identifies it arsenic a pneumonia-causing disease, should beryllium changed to telephone it simply an infectious virus.

China's attack to COVID - which has emphasised wide investigating and the quarantining of affirmative cases successful specialised facilities - should alteration from "passive detection" to "active prevention", with recuperation astatine location for airy cases.

Gu said the China Association of Chinese Medicine's infectious illness arm, which she heads, had reached a statement to alteration however they picture the virus.

Her remarks are successful enactment with a caller softening of the code from China's wellness experts and authorities media towards COVID, portion authorities person loosened what stay immoderate of the world's toughest COVID curbs.

There are wide expectations that the moves could herald a much pronounced displacement towards normalcy 3 years into the pandemic.

Officials person started to play down the dangers posed by the virus. On Monday, the authoritative Xinhua quality bureau said successful a commentary that the "most hard play had passed", citing the weakening pathogenicity of the microorganism and efforts to vaccinate 90% of the population.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Edmund Klamann)