China Departs Again | Dialogue with Liang Wannian: We are confident that our national defense system can deal with Omi Keron
The Paper Journalist Hu Danping
Mankind has entered its third winter in the face of the enemy of the new crown virus.
The fierce battle with the delta variant of the new crown virus has not yet ended, but the Omi Keron variant has quietly struck.
The new crown epidemic in 2021 is still a topic that many people cannot avoid, from Shijiazhuang at the beginning of the year to Nanjing in the middle of the year to Xi'an at the end of the year; from port cities to border areas, every time the virus breaks through the line of defense, countless people's hearts are affected.
In 2021, my country's epidemic prevention and control strategy will not only face the test from the virus, but also many people will be puzzled and questioned.
When someone questioned the cost-effectiveness of our national defense control strategy, Liang Wannian, head of the expert group of the National Health Commission's Epidemic Response and Disposal Work Leading Group, responded: "Dynamic Zeroing" is the best choice and general policy for epidemic prevention and control at this stage; when The virus broke through the defense lines of border cities such as Ruili time and time again. An expert team including Liang Wannian went to Ruili to investigate and put forward plans and measures to optimize and improve the prevention and control of the epidemic.
In the face of the faster-spreading Omi Keron mutant, is my country's epidemic prevention system ready?
Why have port cities become the top priority of epidemic prevention and control?
What measures can be used for reference in the import of foreign defense at the ports of large cities and small border cities?
Where does the firm confidence in fighting the new crown epidemic come from?
On the above issues, Liang Wannian accepted an exclusive interview with The Paper (www.thepaper.cn).
In the face of Omi Keron, the key to prevention and control measures is not adjustment but strict implementation
The Paper: The latest mutant strain Omi Keron discovered in South Africa was listed as a "variety to worry about" by the World Health Organization. Hong Kong, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Changsha and other places have reported the discovery of imported cases of Omi Keron mutants. From the current research, what is your judgment on the impact of Omi Keron on the trend of the epidemic?
Liang Wannian: According to statistics from the World Health Organization, in countries where Omi Keron community transmission occurs, the infection cases will double in 1.5 to 3 days, and the transmission speed is significantly faster than the delta mutant strain.
As of December 16, a total of 89 countries have notified Omi Keron cases, including countries with high levels of population immunity.
Currently, information on the clinical severity of the disease caused by Omi Keron is still limited.
The scientific community also needs more data to understand the severity of Omi Keron's disease, and to understand the impact of vaccination and pre-existing immunity on Omi Keron's pathogenicity.
At present, many countries have urgently tightened their prevention and control policies and implemented travel restrictions in response to Omi Keron.
Due to the incomplete understanding of Ome Keron’s transmission power, disease characteristics, infectivity and other issues, its impact on the global epidemic is still unclear, and the global epidemic situation is still uncertain.
As for whether Omi Keron may become a dominant epidemic strain, there may be three situations: one is to replace Delta as a new dominant epidemic strain; the other is to co-lead the epidemic situation with Delta; and the third is that it is not yet a dominant virus strain.
The Paper: Judging from the two previous confirmed cases of Omi Keron in quarantined hotels in Hong Kong, Omi Keron can spread aerosols through the corridors of the quarantined hotels. This is important to my country’s prevention and control measures at entry quarantine points. What are the revelations?
Will it be adjusted accordingly?
Liang Wannian: On November 25, two positive cases in Hong Kong, my country were confirmed to be infected with the Omi Keron variant. One of them entered Hong Kong from South Africa a few days ago, and the other may have been cross-infected during the hotel quarantine.
The problem of cross-infection in isolation points is a common problem faced by all countries in prevention and control.
Judging from the current evidence, Omi Keron is still spreading through known methods and has not broken our understanding of the transmission of the new coronavirus. Therefore, we must objectively and scientifically look at the risk of aerosol transmission.
The key to effective prevention and control measures at this stage is not "adjustment" but "strict implementation."
Existing evidence shows that Omi Keron has a relatively fast transmission rate, which requires quarantine points to strengthen prevention, carefully sort out potential weaknesses in the implementation of verification prevention and control measures, and reduce the risk of transmission as much as possible.
Port cities have become the top priority, and international health stations are beneficial explorations
The Paper: Recently, in response to the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic in port cities, the State Council's joint prevention and control mechanism has introduced new measures. Why do port cities become the top priority of epidemic prevention and control?
Liang Wannian: In the context of the global new crown pandemic, there have been a number of local sporadic or clustered epidemics in my country recently. Research and analysis have shown that these are all imported from overseas epidemics through port cities.
Therefore, port cities are currently the top priority of my country's epidemic prevention and control, and foreign defense import is the key to epidemic prevention and control.
Past local clusters of epidemics have also exposed problems in some places, and we must attach great importance to them, overcome slackness, paralysis, and fluke mentality, and take effective measures to ensure that various prevention and control measures are implemented.
The Paper: A public health expert combed through the local epidemics since last year and found that infections caused by airports and isolation points have become the mainstream of the epidemic in 2021.
The epidemic prevention and control pressure in the cities at the port of entry is relatively high. Guangzhou plans to build the country's first international health station to replace the isolation hotel. What do you think of the role of the health station?
Can this practice be replicated and promoted in other ports of entry cities?
Liang Wannian: Guangzhou's plan to build the country's first international health station to replace the isolation hotel is a useful exploration and can reduce the pressure of epidemic prevention and control in the port of entry cities to a certain extent. This approach can provide a reference for other port cities.
However, health post is only one form of exploration, and other cities at other ports of entry need to take targeted and actionable measures based on their own actual conditions.
Set up a buffer zone to achieve maximum results at the lowest social cost
The Paper: In November, you went to Ruili, Yunnan for research. This year, Ruili's epidemic has repeatedly attracted attention. For border areas like Ruili, how to optimize and improve the epidemic prevention and control measures?
Liang Wannian: Strictly implement the requirements of the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism "Notice on Strengthening the Prevention and Control of New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemics in Port Cities", and do the following work in earnest:
One is to optimize the goals of prevention and control.
Continue to adhere to strict prevention of import, strict prevention of proliferation, and strict prevention of external transmission, try our best to prevent overseas imports, ensure "dynamic zeroing", strictly observe the bottom line of no spills as the work goal, and earnestly implement the responsibilities of the four parties, quickly deal with the spread of the epidemic, and unblock and combine to form an epidemic prevention Control and economic development, social stability and sustainable virtuous circle.
The second is to set up a "buffer", differentiated management by classification and grouping.
Fully consider the special geographic location of the border area and combine the trend of overseas epidemics. The border port cities are reasonably divided into two types: buffer zone and non-buffer zone. Differentiated management policies are implemented to realize the frontier movement of the border and reduce the risk of epidemic spillover to minimize the risk of epidemic spillover. Social impact and the lowest social cost to achieve the greatest effect of epidemic prevention and control.
The third is to take precise measures to respond to public concerns.
Strengthen evidence-based decision-making and ensure that the adjustment of important prevention and control measures is based on risk assessment and scientific argumentation.
Innovate the port management model, accelerate the reengineering of modern port procedures, improve work standards, and strive to achieve contactless customs clearance.
Resume work and production in important social and economic pillar industries and people’s livelihood security industries, strengthen the training of employees, and establish a complete supervision mechanism.
Give full play to the role of basic medical institutions, solve the problems of people seeking medical treatment, and respond to people's concerns in a timely manner.
The fourth is to mobilize the extensive participation of the society and weave a dense grassroots network.
Enhance the professional and scientific level of community epidemic prevention and control, and strive to realize that each neighborhood (village) committee has a public health commissioner and each unit has a health commissioner.
Establish a mechanism to encourage grassroots medical staff to take samples and submit them for inspection, so as to promptly investigate and close-loop management of suspicious personnel.
Focus on strengthening the capacity training of community prevention and control personnel in disinfection technology, grid management, personal protection, and health monitoring.
Vigorously carry out health education, advocate civilized and healthy lifestyles and behaviors, improve public protection awareness and skills, and increase the initiative to participate in prevention and control work.
Strictly implement measures such as wearing masks in public places, maintaining social distance, scanning codes and measuring temperature, and disinfecting facilities.
Key industries and key populations must implement measures such as regular nucleic acid testing and health monitoring.
The Paper: The setting of a buffer you just mentioned is the first time that you have proposed it. Why do you need to set a buffer?
What role will the buffer zone play?
Liang Wannian: The buffer zone is set up to change the current situation of strict management of the port city as a control area. Comprehensive geography, population, epidemic situation, etc., reasonably divide it into buffer zone and non-buffer zone, and implement regional differentiation Manage policies to maximize the balance between epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development.
Strict control measures are implemented for the buffer zone (such as the areas closest to the land border such as the border villages), such as setting up checkpoints, adopting the non-essential non-leaving policy, and implementing conditional leave for those who need to leave the area.
When there are no cases in the buffer zone, normalized prevention and control measures can be taken to restore daily production and life, and regular screening and health monitoring can be carried out.
When a case occurs, the closed area, the control area, and the prevention area are further accurately divided, and differentiated management is implemented; the closely connected, sub-closed, and risk groups of the cases are accurately defined, and standardized management is implemented.
In other areas outside the buffer zone, the effective implementation of normalized prevention and control measures to maintain the normal production and living order of the masses can further optimize the control measures for people flowing out of port cities and accelerate the restoration of social and economic vitality.
It needs to be pointed out that the specific setting of the buffer zone does not have a nationally unified model and standard. It needs to be closely integrated with local conditions, adapted to local conditions, and scientifically demonstrated to form a practical and effective model that conforms to local conditions.
I believe that by setting up a buffer zone, port cities can further move forward and reduce the risk of epidemic spillover; at the same time, the greatest effect of epidemic prevention and control can be achieved with the smallest social impact and the lowest social cost.
To fight the new crown epidemic, we must have confidence in our country’s epidemic prevention system
The Paper: This year is already the third winter of our fight against the new crown virus. Is my country's epidemic prevention system sufficient to deal with mutant strains like Omi Keron?
Liang Wannian: I am very confident that our country's epidemic prevention system will deal with mutant strains like Omi Keron.
The general strategy of "external defense input, internal defense rebound" and the "dynamic zeroing" general policy implemented by our country have achieved maximum results with minimal cost, and effectively safeguarded people's lives and health and economic and social development.
The first is the combination of peace and emergency in the command system, establishing a working mechanism that combines normalized, precise prevention and control and emergency response to local epidemics.
The nationwide "a game of chess", coordinated operations, and quickly adopted measures such as large-scale nucleic acid testing, close contact tracking management, and community management and control to effectively curb the spread of the epidemic.
The second is the combination of joint prevention and control, group prevention and group control, and group expertise to achieve an effective connection between the "first kilometer" and the "last kilometer", extensively mobilize the masses to participate, and strive to maximize their understanding, support and cooperation.
The third is to strengthen functions such as fever clinics and disease surveillance networks to detect cases or infected persons as early as possible.
The fourth is to strengthen the monitoring of virus mutations, strengthen the research and development of vaccines, drugs, and test reagents, so that timely detection, rapid disposal, precise control and effective treatment can be achieved. When the epidemic is detected, it will be extinguished together to ensure that the domestic epidemic situation remains generally stable.
The Paper: You mentioned many times before that we must strengthen our confidence in the fight against the new crown epidemic. Where does our confidence come from?
Liang Wannian: First, my country has formed a strong emergency command and decision-making system and a series of efficient working mechanisms, and has trained a large number of sentimental, capable, and experienced teams.
The second is the superiority of my country's socialist system. The whole country is "a game of chess", with top and bottom concentric, departmental coordination, and a good governance system and governance capabilities.
The third is Chinese culture, the high degree of altruism among the people.
Fourth, we already have an effective "anti-epidemic toolkit", such as nucleic acid testing, close contact management, and clinical treatment.
Fifth, my country has received more than 2.6 billion doses of vaccines, the vaccination rate has covered more than 80% of the population, and the population has a certain level of immunity.
Sixth, positive progress has been made in drug research and development, and my country also has unique advantages in traditional Chinese medicine.
Therefore, we should strengthen our confidence, our prevention and control effect is very obvious.
In the context of the global new crown pandemic, although my country has experienced clusters of epidemics in some areas, it can basically control the epidemic within about one incubation period, which effectively ensures that people's lives can quickly return to normal.
The Paper: At present, my country's epidemic prevention and control has entered the third stage, and the prevention and control strategy is also being adjusted. What will be the direction of our national defense control strategy adjustment in the future?
What are the determining factors?
Liang Wannian: Whether to change the current strategy in the future depends on the trend of the global epidemic, the mutation of the virus, the change in the severity of the disease, and the level of vaccination coverage in my country.
We will pay close attention to the global epidemic trend, study the risk of the epidemic, accelerate the progress of vaccination, and adjust the corresponding prevention and control strategies and measures in due course.