(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) "No Death", "Zero Severity", "Large Influenza"? To understand Omikron correctly, we must break the false proposition
China News Agency, Beijing, April 10th: "Not lethal", "Zero Severe", "Large Influenza"?
To understand Omikron correctly, we must break the false proposition
China News Agency reporter Wang Zumin
According to the latest report from the National Health Commission of China, on April 9, there were 1,318 new local confirmed cases and 25,037 asymptomatic infections in mainland China.
Omicron, which cannot be seen with the naked eye, has set a new record for the number of local infected people in mainland China.
However, since the beginning of this year, as Omikron has gradually become an epidemic virus and the number of infected persons has continued to rise, claims about Omikron's "non-fatal", "zero severity" and "big flu" have also been clamoring for a while, leading to a small number of People are paralyzed in thought, lax in protection, and even resist and reject the strategy and measures of "dynamic clearing".
Is infection with Omicron really "not fatal" and "zero severity"?
Is Omicron just the "big flu"?
The global epidemic situation tells us that in order to correctly understand Omicron, these "false propositions" must be broken first.
A correct understanding of Omicron must be based on respect for facts.
According to data released by the National Health and Medical Commission, in 2021, there will be more than 15,000 new confirmed cases in mainland China.
The Omicron strain was first discovered in mainland China in December last year, so the impact of Omicron on this year's data is negligible.
In the 40 days from March 1 to April 9 this year, when Omicron was popular, the number of confirmed cases increased by nearly 55,000, more than 3.5 times that of the whole of last year.
The number of asymptomatic infections has increased by leaps and bounds. For example, Shanghai has reported nearly 140,000 cases in the first 9 days of April. I am afraid that no "big flu" has such energy and power.
It is also reported that from January to March this year, nearly 200 severe and critically ill cases have been reported in mainland China.
As of April 3, Jilin Central Hospital in Jilin Province has treated 50 severe cases and 35 critical cases in this outbreak.
Kang Yan, an expert from the national medical treatment team in Jilin, clearly stated that the Omicron variant is a serious threat to special groups such as elderly patients and patients with severe underlying diseases.
Let's look at the death data again.
On March 18, Jilin City reported 2 deaths in patients with underlying diseases, which was the first death in mainland China in the past year.
According to Wu Zunyou, chief expert of epidemiology at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, from August to October 2021, the global epidemic of Delta strains is dominated by the epidemic, with 16 deaths from the new crown per 100,000 population in the UK; and from November 2021 to 2022 During the epidemic period of the Omicron strain in January 2019, 22 people per 100,000 population in the UK died of the new crown.
In addition, according to the relevant departments of the Hong Kong SAR government, as of April 5, the fifth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong caused by Omicron has caused more than 8,000 deaths, which is much higher than the total number of deaths caused by the previous four waves of the epidemic. The rate of 0.70% far exceeds that of influenza.
Wu Zunyou therefore emphasized: "The harm of the Omicron strain is still serious, and it is definitely not a 'big flu'."
A correct understanding of Omicron requires respect for science.
It is more contagious, spreads faster, and is more insidious, and the proportion of asymptomatic people among the infected has risen sharply, which has become the consensus of the outside world on the Omicron strain.
Relevant experts believe that relative to some individuals, the probability of severe illness or death from infection with the Omikron variant may be declining, but as a whole, the Omikron variant spreads quickly and has a short-term infection rate. high, making the absolute number of infected people larger, which in turn leads to a higher absolute number of severe cases and deaths.
Experts pointed out that asymptomatic infection only means that the infected person has no symptoms, but they carry the virus like confirmed cases and are contagious, and will cause hidden transmission because they have no symptoms, which greatly increases the difficulty of prevention and control.
Wang Guiqiang, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Peking University First Hospital, said that the decrease in virulence of Omicron is only relative to previous strains. At present, its harm is still significantly higher than that of the so-called influenza.
In the current round of epidemics in mainland China caused by Omicron, Shanghai and Jilin Province are the two hardest hit areas.
When summarizing the previous epidemic prevention and control, the officials of both places said: lack of understanding of Omicron, insufficient preparation, and inadequate implementation of prevention and control measures in some areas.
The reflections of Shanghai and Jilin also fully demonstrate that we must pay enough attention to Omicron and let it go as a "big flu", which will definitely pay a heavy price.
A correct understanding of Omicron cannot be divorced from China's basic national conditions and value orientation.
Some people believe that some countries have returned to normal, or "lying flat", and China can follow suit.
Not to mention the final situation of these countries, the national conditions alone determine that China cannot be completely "flattened".
Wu Zunyou once said at the press conference of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council that China is a country with a large population. A very small morbidity or mortality rate multiplied by the population base of 1.4 billion will result in a very large absolute number.
Liang Wannian, head of the expert group of the National Health Commission's Leading Group for Epidemic Response and Disposal, further stated that China has always been a top student in epidemic prevention and control, and the overall number of infected people is relatively small.
However, China has a large area and a large number of people. On the one hand, there is still an imbalance of resources. On the other hand, some people have not completed the entire vaccination process. If they choose to "lie down" at this time, they will not only lose all previous achievements, but also bring about the current situation. unforeseen serious consequences.
Liang Wannian pointed out that "people first, life first, health first" has always been the primary principle of China's epidemic prevention and control.
"Lying flat" uses passive immunization to obtain the immune level of the population, which requires a great price in health and even life. What China has done is to overcome diseases and reduce infections through active immunization and ability improvement.
Compared with foreign countries, China has so far seen a low COVID-19 severe and fatality rate, which is a reflection of the results of epidemic prevention and control, and also proves that China's long-standing prevention and control measures, especially the "dynamic zero" strategy, are correct and effective.
While Omicron is still raging, only by following the unified national deployment and taking adequate personal protection can we win the final victory of the war against the epidemic.
Omicron is not a "big flu", but a powerful opponent that mankind is currently facing.
Only by fully paying attention to the opponent strategically can we finally win the battle.
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