China News Service, Beijing, July 6th. In the past few days, local epidemics have reappeared in many places. Among the new epidemics in Xi'an and Beijing, the virus gene sequencing of infected persons has successively pointed to the more infectious branch of Omicron BA.5.2.
Data map: Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
Photo by Zhang Yuan
29 new cases were added in 4 days, and Xi'an entered "7-day temporary control"
From 0 to 24:00 on July 5, Shaanxi reported 1 new local confirmed case and 10 asymptomatic infections, all in Xi'an. According to the information released by the Shaanxi Provincial Health and Health Commission, 4 of them were screened in the community. The nucleic acid test results were positive during the investigation, and the rest were found during the centralized isolation period.
Previously, from 0:00 on July 2 to 24:00 on July 4, Xi'an had reported a total of 10 local confirmed cases and 8 asymptomatic infections.
In the face of the re-emergence of the epidemic, Xi'an announced that from 0:00 on July 6, the city will implement temporary control measures for 7 days.
Zhang Xuedong, deputy director of the Office of Xi'an Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters and deputy secretary-general of the municipal government, said that the 7-day temporary control measures are to calm down the society as much as possible, reduce social mobility, quickly identify potential risk sources, and reduce crossover risk of infection.
"Because the Omicron variant is more contagious and spreads faster, some infected people have no symptoms or atypical symptoms, so the transmission process is also more hidden." Zhang Xuedong said.
As of 12:00 on the 6th, Xi'an had 9 high-risk areas and 10 medium-risk areas.
Data map: A woman gives her virus sampling tube to a medical staff.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Jia Tianyong
BA.5 variants that must be vigilant
A very important reason why this wave of epidemic in Xi'an has attracted much attention comes from the virus sequencing results of this epidemic.
According to gene sequencing, the strains infected by the positive infected persons of the Xi'an epidemic are all the BA.5.2 branch of the Omicron variant strain.
On the 6th, the Beijing Epidemic Press Conference also introduced that the CDC conducted genetic sequencing on the specimens of infected persons 1 to 3 notified by Beijing on July 5, and the results showed that the viruses belonged to the BA.5.2 branch of the Omicron variant strain.
Since December last year, the new coronavirus Omikron variant has become the main epidemic strain of the global new crown pneumonia epidemic. As the Omikron variant continues to evolve and evolve, the WHO announced the 6th The subclades of Omicron mutants are listed as "Clades of Concerned Variants under Monitoring", including 4 subclades of BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.
In May of this year, the "Weekly Report of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (English)" published an online article, reporting the specific situation of my country's first imported case of BA.
According to the Xi'an Epidemic Press Conference held on the 5th, the BA.5.2 branch of the popular Omicron variant strain spreads faster than other circulating variant strains, such as BA.2, which caused the surge of local cases in my country at the beginning of the year, and infected cases The CT value is low and the infectivity is strong. This virus strain has caused a new round of epidemic peaks in the world. Therefore, the current epidemic situation in Xi'an is severe and complicated. It cannot be ruled out that a new transmission chain will appear in the future, causing a high risk of continued transmission in the community.
At present, BA.4 and BA.5 have become the main epidemic strains in South Africa, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Israel and other countries; recently, France, the Netherlands and other European countries and the United States have also seen an increase in BA.4 and BA.5 infections. .
Wang Wenling, a researcher at the Institute for Viral Disease Prevention and Control of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, introduced on June 28 that the recent epidemic in Macau, China was caused by the BA.5 variant strain. .
Judging from the existing preliminary research results, the transmission ability and immune escape ability of the new coronavirus Omicron variant BA.4 and BA.5 have been slightly enhanced, the difficulty of prevention and control will increase, and China's foreign defense import pressure will increase. big.
Data map: The picture shows a citizen riding in front of the Xi'an Bell Tower.
Photo by Zhang Yuan
Most of the cases in Xi'an are waste recycling workers
According to the introduction of the epidemic conference in Xi'an on the 5th, the virus came from abroad, but the source is not yet clear.
Because the main place of the outbreak - Shaanxi Chaohui Renewable Resources Trading and Distribution Market (Dafengshang Recycling Art Museum) is the largest renewable resources trading market in Shaanxi Province, involving a wide range of areas and complex personnel.
According to the report from Xi'an, the vast majority of the positive infected people found so far are related to waste recycling personnel or their related personnel, and most of the positive infected people have a contact history of co-working and co-living.
In addition, most of the cases that have been found are waste recycling personnel. This occupational group has a wide range of activities and contacts with many people. Many cases involving multiple restaurants, supermarkets, communities, large trading markets, high-speed service areas, etc. , a place with high mobility.
However, the early infected people in this round of epidemic in Xi'an were found in the routine nucleic acid test of key personnel who "should be checked and checked", and they were basically in an early infection state when they were found.
According to the "Shaanxi Daily" report, at present, the Shaanxi Chaohui Renewable Resources Trading and Distribution Market (Dafengshang Regeneration Art Museum) has been closed, and 438 people in the market have been controlled, nucleic acid sampling and centralized isolation, and the market has been completely eliminated.
The 87 sub-distribution teams in Xi'an carried out the flow adjustment of 56 merchants in the market and 19 risk points in Chang'an District, with a total of more than 1,400 close and sub-close contacts, all of which were in place.
The Secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and the Governor of Shaanxi have successively deployed
After the outbreak of the epidemic in Xi'an, the secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and the governor of Shaanxi successively dispatched and deployed epidemic disposal.
According to the "Shaanxi Daily" report, Liu Guozhong, secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, emphasized at the Xi'an Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters on the 5th that the communities identified as high-risk areas should strictly "stay at home and provide door-to-door services", and those in medium-risk areas should "People don't go out of the area and pick up things at different peaks", and at the same time, it is necessary to ensure the basic needs of the masses, such as living materials, electricity, and medical treatment; other areas must implement normalized prevention and control measures, and cannot increase the number of layers.
Liu Guozhong also requested that we should focus on all aspects of the closed-loop management of inbound personnel, adhere to the inspection of people and things, speed up the investigation of loopholes in prevention and control, and strengthen work measures in a targeted manner.
On the same day, Shaanxi Provincial Governor Zhao Yide presided over a video dispatch meeting for epidemic prevention and control in the province, requiring Xi'an to take the control of the epidemic as the last word, firmly grasp the window period for epidemic disposal, insist on the word "fast" as the top priority, and race against every second to carry out the flow adjustment. Trace the source, organize nucleic acid screening comprehensively and efficiently, and continuously speed up the speed of transfer and isolation to ensure that all risk personnel should be separated and no one will be missed.
He also emphasized that we will strictly implement foreign import prevention measures, further strengthen the isolation and control of the entire process of entry personnel, the prevention and control and traceability management of the entire chain of entry items, and resolutely prevent the virus from breaking out of the circle.
(Finish)