The nation’s health authorities said on Thursday the country's Covid-19 epidemic has "basically" ended, but it is not completely over as they have found seven imported cases of the highly-transmissible XBB.1.5 variant since January 8.

Officials, speaking at a news event with several departments attending, said the mainland has set an example for populous nations in Covid prevention and control.

However, health officials and experts said they were also monitoring the XBB.1.5 sub-variant of Omicron. On January 4, data had showed no new variant was found in the country.

Officials said on Thursday one local case of the variant was linked with an imported case on February 3.

Meanwhile, two airports in the financial hub Shanghai saw marked increases in passenger throughput in January, thanks to the nation’s optimised Covid response and entry-exit policies, Shanghai Customs said on Thursday.

In January, passenger throughput at Hongqiao International Airport exceeded 2.6 million, up 37.5 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, Pudong International Airport handled over 2.8 million passenger trips, an increase of 34.2 percent from a year ago. (Reuters/Xinhua)