Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 16 Question: Authorities respond to the five major concerns of the latest version of the new crown pneumonia prevention and control plan
Xinhua News Agency reporters Dong Ruifeng and Xu Penghang
Since the release of the "New Coronavirus Pneumonia Prevention and Control Plan (Ninth Edition)" recently, adjustments have been made to epidemic monitoring, isolation management of risk personnel, and standards for the delineation of medium and high risk areas to further improve the scientific and precise nature of epidemic prevention and control.
What is the basis for the revision of the prevention and control plan?
How has the division of different risk areas changed?
Does the latest variant affect existing control measures?
In response to social concerns, the authoritative experts of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council made an interpretation response in an interview with a reporter from Xinhua News Agency.
Why amend the prevention and control plan?
more scientific and precise
Liu Qing, director of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Division of the National Health Commission's CDC, said that there are three considerations in revising the prevention and control plan:
The first is the change of the epidemic situation.
The new crown pneumonia epidemic continues to spread around the world. Since the beginning of this year, the frequency of local epidemics in the country has increased significantly, and the epidemic has affected a wide range of regions. The pressure of China's foreign defense imports and internal defense rebounds has been increasing, and the prevention and control situation has become more severe and complicated.
The second is the characteristics of virus mutation.
As the dominant epidemic strain, Omicron has a shortened incubation period, stronger transmission ability and concealment, and faster transmission, which brings new challenges to epidemic prevention and control.
The third is the results of the preliminary pilot work and the practice of epidemic prevention and control.
From April to May this year, the comprehensive team of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council carried out a four-week pilot study on the optimization of epidemic prevention and control measures in seven inbound cities including Dalian, Suzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen, Qingdao, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
At the same time, it has fully absorbed and learned from the practice of prevention and control work and the experience of epidemic handling in various places.
"The ninth edition of the prevention and control plan is to optimize the prevention and control measures, not to relax the prevention and control." Liu Qing said that the key is to control the key points that should be controlled, the implementation of the implementation, and the resolute cancellation of the cancellation. Further improve the scientific nature and precision of epidemic prevention and control.
Why adjust the isolation period of risk personnel?
The virus incubation period is shortened
The pilot study on the optimization of epidemic prevention and control measures carried out from April to May found that the average incubation period of the Omicron variant was shortened, mostly from 2 to 4 days; most of them could be detected within 7 days.
"In order to further improve the scientificity and accuracy of the new crown pneumonia epidemic prevention and control measures, based on the research results and the prevention and control practices in many places in China, the ninth edition of the prevention and control plan optimizes the time limit and method for the isolation and control of personnel at risk related to the epidemic. " said Wang Liping, a researcher at the Infectious Disease Management Division of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Adjusted the isolation and control time for close contacts and inbound personnel from "14-day centralized quarantine + 7-day home health monitoring" to "7-day centralized isolation + 3-day home health monitoring", and the close contact control measures were changed from "7-day centralized isolation" Adjusted to "7-day home quarantine"...
"Such an adjustment is to further optimize the prevention and control measures according to the epidemic characteristics of the Omicron variant, which will not increase the risk of the spread of the epidemic, and is a manifestation of precise prevention and control," Wang Liping said.
When to start nucleic acid testing for all employees?
clearly defined conditions
In different scenarios, regional nucleic acid detection strategies should be different - the ninth edition of the prevention and control plan further clarifies this.
The plan targets provincial capital cities, cities with a population of more than 10 million, general cities, and rural areas, and clarifies the regional nucleic acid detection strategies after the outbreak and under normalized prevention and control.
Wang Liping introduced that after the outbreak of the epidemic, if the conditions such as "clear source of infection", "clear transmission chain" and "no community transmission" are met, there is no need to carry out nucleic acid testing for all employees in the area where the epidemic occurred, and focus on risk areas and areas. Personnel at the intersection of time and space carry out nucleic acid screening.
If it is judged by current research that the transmission chain is unclear, there are many risk sites and risk personnel, and the risk personnel are highly mobile, and there is a risk of spread of the epidemic, nucleic acid testing for all employees in the region should be initiated.
The protocol clearly defines the nucleic acid detection range, detection strategy and termination conditions in different regions.
How are high, medium and low risk areas divided?
Counties without epidemics implement normalized prevention and control
According to the ninth edition of the prevention and control plan, high, medium and low risk areas are divided into counties (cities, districts, and flags) with epidemics.
For counties (cities, districts, and flags) where no epidemic has occurred, normalized prevention and control measures are implemented throughout the region.
According to Chang Zhaorui, a researcher at the Infectious Diseases Management Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, high-risk areas refer to the residences of cases and asymptomatic infected persons, as well as areas of work and activities with frequent activities and high risk of epidemic transmission. The residential area or village is demarcated as a unit, and the scope of risk areas can be judged and adjusted according to the results of epidemiological investigations.
High-risk areas have adopted the closure and control measures of "staying at home and providing door-to-door service".
For people in high-risk areas with cross-regional spillovers, a 7-day centralized isolation medical observation will be adopted.
Medium-risk areas refer to areas where cases and asymptomatic infected persons stay and move for a certain period of time and may have the risk of spreading the epidemic.
The medium-risk area adopts the control measures of "people do not leave the area and take things at different peaks".
For those in the medium-risk area who have spilled across regions, they will be quarantined at home for 7 days for medical observation.
The low-risk area refers to other areas in the county (city, district, flag) where the medium-high-risk area is located.
The low-risk area adopts the precautionary measures of "personal protection, avoidance of gatherings".
Persons in low-risk areas who go out across regions should hold a 48-hour negative nucleic acid test certificate when leaving.
For people in low-risk areas who go out across regions, isolation and control measures are not required, but they are required to complete two nucleic acid tests within 3 days and conduct personal health monitoring.
Does the latest variant have an impact?
Prevention and control plan still applies
Recently, the BA.5 subclade of Omicron is becoming the main circulating strain in the world, and it has caused a local cluster epidemic in my country.
Dong Xiaoping, chief expert of virology at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that compared with other Omicron sub-branches, the overall pathogenicity of BA.5 has not changed significantly, and the ninth edition of the prevention and control plan is still applicable.
The ninth edition of the prevention and control plan puts virus monitoring in a higher position, embodies a hierarchical nucleic acid screening plan, encrypts the frequency of nucleic acid testing for at-risk occupations, and increases antigen testing as a supplementary means of epidemic monitoring.
"These measures in the ninth edition of the prevention and control plan are effective for both BA.4 and BA.5 sub-branches." Dong Xiaoping said.