In news, the World Health Organization's press conference held in Geneva warned that the number of people infected with the main pathogen of COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been increasing in recent times, according to data from over 80 countries.

The Guangdong Provincial Disease Prevention and Control Bureau released the summary of statutory infectious diseases in June and July 2024, which showed that the number of cases of new coronavirus infection in Guangdong Province increased by over 100,000 cases to 18,384 in July from 8,246 in June.

A recent study by Chinese research teams on the evolution of the novel coronavirus shows that the virus will become a more highly adaptive strain. In the long term, the pathogenicity of the novel coronavirus to human hosts may be decreasing.

Since it was first discovered at the end of 2019, the novel coronavirus has continuously adapted to the host environment through a series of mutations, significantly enhancing its transmissibility. Researchers from the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wang Xiangxi, the Center for Biomedical Innovation, Peking University, Cao Yunlong, a professor at the Changping Laboratory of Beijing, and Wang Youchun have jointly conducted relevant research. The joint team had previously revealed that the glycosylation modification of the novel coronavirus promoted viral "mildness", enabling it to evolve towards coronaviruses that cause ordinary colds.

Recently, the joint team published a new article in the well-known academic journal Cell Research, showing that the novel coronavirus new variant BA.2.86 has a rare loss of residue 483 in the receptor binding domain, which may give the virus an advantage in evolving into a more adaptive strain.

Dr. Zhang Wenhong, Director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases and Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital, affiliated to Fudan University, has stated that due to the continuous mutation of the virus strain and the periodic decline of the immune barrier, the novel coronavirus has gradually become a respiratory infectious disease that is similar to influenza and other respiratory infectious diseases that are endemic to China. However, the severity of the disease has remained relatively stable.

Companies related to anti-infection drugs for COVID-19:

$SIMCERE PHARMA (02096.HK)$ The company reported that since last month, the shipment of the company's COVID-19 drug, Xavron, has been increasing, and the growth continued this month. Last month, most of the shipments were to southern cities such as Zhejiang and Yunnan, and there was also an increase in shipments to Beijing and Shanghai. This month, the shipment volume in northern cities began to increase.

$SHANDONG XINHUA (00719.HK)$ Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical is a global important supplier of antipyretic and analgesic drugs, with a series of products such as ibuprofen, aspirin, Wian series, Meloxicam and so on.

$CANSINOBIO (06185.HK)$ Starting from 2023, the company's sales focus will shift from COVID-19 vaccine to meningococcal vaccine. The sales revenue of the two meningococcal vaccine products realized a revenue of 0.562 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 266.39%, of which MCV4 contributed the main revenue. In addition, Zhongjin believes that most of the negative impact of the company's COVID-19 vaccine business has been reflected in the financial statements, and the subsequent negative impact is relatively small.

$JUNSHI BIO (01877.HK)$ The core product, Tezepelumab, has added 3 new indications to the medical insurance list, which is expected to further boost sales. In 2023, Tezepelumab injection has been successfully included in the national medical insurance list, and 3 new indications for first-line nasopharyngeal cancer, first-line esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and first-line non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer have been added to the new version of the national medical insurance list. As of April this year, a total of 6 indications have been included in the national medical insurance list, and 8 indications have been approved in China. It is the only anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody used to treat melanoma in the national medical insurance list. At the same time, multiple postoperative adjuvant/perisurgical phase III clinical trials are about to be completed to meet the unmet clinical needs. Compared with Pfizer's Paxlovid, VV116 (RdRp oral COVID-19 drug) performs equally or even better in promoting recovery, with shorter clinical recovery time and fewer adverse events.