The Ministry of health of New Zealand confirmed on the 8th that an immigrant from South Africa was infected with the mutated novel coronavirus Omicron strain ba Subtype 5, which is the new subtype of Omicron virus discovered for the first time in this country. Experts believe that the possibility of ushering in the next wave of new coronal infection peak when the southern hemisphere enters winter this year cannot be ruled out. According to the Ministry of health of New Zealand, the infected person arrived in New Zealand from South Africa on April 26. He was positive for antigen self-test on the 1st and nucleic acid test on the 2nd. Then he was confirmed to be infected with BA 5。 The first case of Omicron strain Ba reported by New Zealand on May 1 People infected with subtype 4 also arrived in New Zealand from South Africa. Data from the Ministry of health of New Zealand showed that as of August 8, 986261 new coronavirus cases had been confirmed in the country, and the national average daily increase of 7 days. The number of confirmed cases decreased a month ago and rose again recently. Experts believe that this is basically consistent with the time point of the government's large-scale relaxation of epidemic prevention requirements and the import of new virus variants. It does not rule out the possibility of ushering in the next wave of new coronavirus infection peak when the southern hemisphere enters winter this year. Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at Otago University in New Zealand, believes that the Omicron strain is still much more harmful than the influenza virus to non immunized people. He believes that under the background of comprehensive relaxation of epidemic prevention, repeated infection with Omicron virus strain is expected to become the norm, and the fastest reported interval of repeated infection can be as short as 20 days. He called on the government to take practical measures as soon as possible to strengthen prevention. According to West Oaksey wiles, a microbiologist at the University of Auckland, in the face of more mutated novel coronavirus strains, one of the problems faced by the government in relaxing epidemic prevention is that people with low immunity face a high risk of infection. (Xinhua News Agency)