China News Service, Xi'an, March 7th (Reporter Alina) "In order to detect infected persons as soon as possible, prevent the spread of the epidemic, and protect the health and safety of Xi'an citizens to the greatest extent, the expert group has assessed that it is necessary to carry out Xi'an City at this time. Large-scale viral nucleic acid screening." Zhang Yi, director of the Shaanxi Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview on the morning of the 7th.
Zhang Yi introduced that the gene sequencing result of the virus in this epidemic is the BA2 subtype of Omikron. The Omikron strain is highly infectious, and the infectivity of the BA2 subtype is about 30% higher than that of the previously popular BA1.
The speed of transmission is fast, which confirms the highly infectious characteristics of the BA2 subtype of Omicron.
Zhang Yi said that since Xi'an reported the first case at 3:00 a.m. on March 5, 4 cases have been found on the same flight, 2 of which have returned to other provinces. Before the epidemic was discovered, these 4 cases existed for a long time, a wider range of social activities.
For example, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, markets, and public transportation such as subways and buses have certain difficulties in close inspection work. Therefore, we are worried that individual contacts may be missed.
Therefore, in order to detect infected persons as soon as possible, prevent the spread of the epidemic, and protect the health and safety of Xi'an citizens to the greatest extent, the expert group has assessed that it is necessary to carry out large-scale viral nucleic acid testing in Xi'an at this time.
"Citizens and friends, don't panic. At present, the epidemic is still under control, and there have been no cases of unknown sources of infection." Zhang Yi said that he believes that with the advancement of various prevention and control measures, the epidemic will be brought under control soon.
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