Current status， screening and diagnostic strategies for hepatitis C virus infection in the context of 'elimination'

Global prevalence of HCV infection was 0.9% in 2015. With the comprehensive rollout of viral hepatitis elimination efforts, the global prevalence of HCV infection has been reduced to 0.7% by 2020. However, there are still approximately 58 million people living with HCV globally and 15 million newly-diagnosed infections annually ，with 300 000 deaths per year. In 2019, the number of reported newly-diagnosed HCV cases in China reached 625 000, with an age-adjusted incidence rate of 55(47.5－63.2) per million. An epidemiological survey of serum samples in China in 2006 showed that the prevalence of HCV infection in the country was about 0.43%. Data in 2016 indicated that there were 45 300 HCV-related deaths in China, which was the region with highest mortality risk globally. In 2022, WHO proposed new outcome indicators for HCV elimination， including the number of newly-diagnosed HCV patients