China News Service, January 5, according to the official WeChat news of the Shandong Health Commission, on January 4, the Shandong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention completed a full-gene sequencing analysis of a sample of a British imported case reported in Qingdao. After comparison, it was compared with the recent The British variants of great concern are highly homologous.
This case is the first imported case of new coronavirus VUI-202012/01 mutant infection in Shandong Province.
What impact does the first mutant found in Shandong Province have on the current epidemic prevention and control?
How should the public respond?
Lei Jie, the chief expert and chief physician of the Shandong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the director of the Institute for Viral Infectious Disease Control, gave a detailed interpretation.
What are the cases of variant strains in Shandong Province?
Kou Zengqiang said that the Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention performed the whole genome sequence of the new coronavirus in this case, and successfully obtained the whole genome sequence of the case, and compared and analyzed it with the reference sequence. The imported case sequence is the new coronavirus European family L2.1 type. Compared with the sequence of the British variant strain (VUI-202012/01 or B.1.1.7 mutant strain) that has been highly concerned recently, the homology reaches 99.99%.
What is the management situation after the case of this variant strain is discovered?
Lei Jie said that Shandong Province implements strict closed-loop management for immigrants.
After the case was tested positive during quarantine at the hotel, he was immediately sent to a designated medical institution for diagnosis and treatment. The entire process is under strict closed-loop management.
How does the public recognize and respond?
Lei Jie said that at present, closed-loop management of immigrants is implemented across the country, Shandong Province has also implemented strict “point-to-point” closed-loop management, and Qingdao has strictly implemented measures such as “encrypted testing” and “closed-loop transfer” to enable patients to be isolated. During the diagnosis.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, no matter whether it is a confirmed case or an asymptomatic infection found among immigrants, it is impossible to enter ordinary communities, and the public does not need to panic.
Everyone needs to keep in mind the eight precautions of the four major measures for epidemic prevention and control, especially wearing masks, washing hands frequently, ventilating often, and gathering less, consciously take personal protection, and form good habits.
Will the variant strain affect our ongoing COVID-19 vaccination?
On December 21, 2020, experts from the World Health Organization stated at a press conference that the new coronavirus variants that appeared in the UK mainly caused "two changes and three changes", where "three changes" refer to the pathogenicity of the mutant strains. The effectiveness of nucleic acid testing and the effectiveness of vaccines remain unchanged.
At present, it has not been found that this mutant strain has an impact on the immune efficacy of the inactivated new coronavirus vaccine we are vaccinating.
What does it mean to find a virus variant?
Lei Jie said that Shandong was the third province to discover the mutant after Shanghai and Guangdong.
The significance of the discovery of mutant strains lies in: First, the new coronary pneumonia is "preventable, controllable, and curable". The discovery of mutant strains shows that we have the ability to detect virus mutant strains in a timely manner through strong monitoring under normalized epidemic prevention and control. Carrying out relevant research in a timely manner and improving response measures in time have once again proved that the monitoring system we have established is sensitive and reliable.
The second is to further remind everyone that the current epidemic of new coronary pneumonia abroad is still in a pandemic state, and we must not be careless.
In response to the worldwide epidemic situation and development, we will pay close attention to the impact of new changes in a timely and targeted manner, and adjust prevention and control strategies in a timely and targeted manner.
The third is to remind the relevant prevention and control departments to maintain a high degree of vigilance at all times, to achieve "external input, internal proliferation", and always be vigilant.