(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) New mutant strains cause epidemics in many places, how can China prevent it? How to control?
China News Agency, Beijing, August 10 (Ma Shuisha) Since August, a total of 9 provinces across the country have reported more than 100 local infections, and the Omicron BA.5 strain and its evolutionary branches have been detected in many places.
In the face of new mutants, is the ninth edition of the prevention and control plan still effective?
Is it possible to wait for direct vaccination against the Omicron strain in the future?
The Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council of China held a press conference on the recent epidemic prevention and control work on August 10 to provide authoritative answers to the above questions.
Are the measures taken in the ninth edition of the prevention and control plan still valid?
Recently, the Omicron BA.5 strain and its evolutionary branches have been detected in many places across the country.
For the mutant strains that spread faster, whether the ninth edition of the prevention and control plan can effectively deal with it has aroused concern.
Dong Xiaoping, chief expert of virology at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that at present, all localities are actively responding to the requirements of the new version of the prevention and control plan, and almost every outbreak can be effectively controlled in a short period of time, which reflects the impact of the ninth version of the prevention and control plan on Omi. The Chron variant works well.
The new version of the prevention and control plan optimizes the nucleic acid detection of entry personnel when they are released from isolation to only the oropharyngeal swab "apheresis test", and no longer uses the nasopharyngeal swab.
Talking about whether this change will cause the risk of missed detection, Dong Xiaoping pointed out that the researchers did not find a clear statistical difference between the two detection methods in the detection of viral nucleic acid when the entry was released from quarantine.
According to practical results, as long as the oropharyngeal swab collection operation is standardized, the risk of missed detection is extremely low.
The outside world is also worried that the new version of the prevention and control plan will shorten the retrospective time for the travel history of the epidemic area to 7 days, which will increase the risk of epidemic transmission.
In this regard, Han Mengjie, director of the STD and AIDS Prevention and Control Center of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the study found that the average incubation period of the Omicron variant was shortened, mostly 2 to 4 days, and most of them could be detected within 7 days. On the basis of doing a good job in community personnel control and nucleic acid testing, shortening the control period will not increase the risk of the spread of the epidemic."
Can I wait to get the Omicron vaccine directly?
At present, Ormicron mutants, especially Ormicron BA.4 and BA.5, have become the main popular strains.
The study shows that compared with the Omikron BA.2 strain that was popular earlier, the Omikron BA.5 variant has slightly enhanced transmission ability, significantly enhanced immune escape ability, and increased risk of re-infection. , bringing greater difficulties and challenges to the prevention and control work.
In this case, can people who have not been vaccinated wait for future direct vaccination against the Omicron strain?
Wang Huaqing, chief expert of the immunization program at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that some countries, including China, have carried out research and development of new vaccines, including the Omicron variant vaccine, but the development of new vaccines will take time and there are uncertainties.
He pointed out that the Omicron variant is highly contagious and is more harmful to the elderly who have not been vaccinated, while the currently used vaccines have a significant and clear effect on preventing severe illness and death.
Is it necessary for the elderly who live at home for a long time to be vaccinated?
It is reported that as of August 9, 238.803 million people over the age of 60 have been vaccinated in the mainland, and 226.092 million people have been vaccinated throughout the course, accounting for 90.44% and 85.63% of the elderly population respectively.
In response to the question of whether it is necessary for the elderly to be vaccinated at home for a long time and rarely go out, Wang Huaqing said at the meeting that staying at home for a long time and rarely going out does not mean that there is no risk of infection. Contact the service staff.
He pointed out that the current vaccination rate in some areas is low, and the vaccination rate of the elderly is less than 70%.
If the new coronavirus spreads or becomes popular, the elderly who have not been vaccinated, especially the elderly, are still at great risk of severe illness and even death. "It is recommended that the elderly who have not been vaccinated or who have not completed the full course of vaccination and booster shots, as long as they are not contraindicated. It is not within the scope of delayed vaccination, so get vaccinated as soon as possible." (End)