China News Service, Beijing, December 27th (Liu Huan) On the evening of the 26th, the National Health and Medical Commission issued an announcement renaming the new type of coronavirus pneumonia as a new type of coronavirus infection.
With the approval of the State Council, starting from January 8, 2023, the prevention and control measures for Class A infectious diseases caused by the new crown infection will be lifted.
Why choose to return from "Class B and A tubes" to "Class B and B tubes" at this time?
How will the prevention and control measures be different?
What does the new crown pneumonia name change mean?
Expert: Now has the conditions to return to "Class B and B pipes"
According to the "Interpretation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases" compiled by the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Class A infectious diseases refer to high morbidity, high fatality rate caused by delayed treatment, rapid spread among humans, wide spread, and possible A severe infectious disease that endangers social security and requires measures such as mandatory isolation, blockade of epidemic areas, or traffic health quarantine.
Class B infectious diseases refer to high morbidity, high mortality, but limited transmission capacity, causing certain harm to the society, requiring planned vaccination, compulsory and public inspection and treatment, and the source of infection or the link of transmission Infectious diseases that carry out social control projects such as system control.
Li Lanjuan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the State Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with the media in August this year that COVID-19 is a Class B infectious disease and should be managed according to Class A infectious diseases. It will return to the management of Class B infectious diseases.
On December 26, the National Health and Medical Commission issued a question and answer on the interpretation of the "Overall Plan for the Implementation of "Class B Control" for Novel Coronavirus Infection". sexuality, a greater tendency towards upper respiratory tract infection and a shorter incubation period.
The Omicron mutant strain has become the dominant strain in the world. Although the number of people infected is large, the pathogenicity has decreased significantly compared with the early stage, and the resulting disease will gradually evolve into a common respiratory infectious disease.
Hu Xiaoxiang, vice president of the Jiangsu Provincial Health Law Society, told Chinanews.com that according to the degree of hazard and epidemic intensity of infectious diseases, the current epidemic prevention and control has the conditions to return to the management of Class B infectious diseases.
He introduced that according to Article 3, Paragraph 5 of the "Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases", the health administrative department of the State Council may decide to increase, decrease or adjust the types of B and C infectious diseases based on the outbreak, prevalence and degree of harm of infectious diseases and be announced.
Wang Yue, a professor at the Department of Medical Ethics and Law at the School of Medical Humanities at Peking University, said: "The virus has mutated for three years, and its current morbidity and fatality rates are very low. From this perspective, we are basically ready to return."
What does it mean to officially change the name?
On January 20, 2020, the National Health and Medical Commission issued Announcement No. 1 stating that, according to the relevant provisions of the "Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases", based on the understanding of the pathogen, epidemiology, and clinical characteristics of pneumonia infected by the new coronavirus at that time , reported to the State Council for approval, the new type of coronavirus-infected pneumonia will be included in the Class B management of statutory infectious diseases, and preventive and control measures for Class A infectious diseases will be adopted.
"One of the great characteristics of the new crown epidemic is its uncertainty and unknowns. When faced with an uncertain infectious disease and cannot classify it into A, B, and C, we will set up an independent legal system to regulations.” Wang Yue believes that based on the situation three years ago, it is necessary to adopt strict control measures.
"These three years have won us a window period, allowing us to avoid the period of high mortality." He said.
Today, three years later, the prevention and control measures against Class A infectious diseases infected by the new crown have been lifted. Hu Xiaoxiang said that the specific measures will change.
According to Article 39 of the "Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases", when a Class A infectious disease is discovered, the medical institution shall take the following measures in a timely manner:
1. Patients and pathogen carriers are treated in isolation, and the isolation period is determined according to the results of medical examinations;
2. For suspected patients, separate isolation and treatment in designated places before diagnosis;
3. For patients, pathogen carriers, and close contacts of suspected patients in medical institutions, conduct medical observation in designated places and take other necessary preventive measures.
For those who refuse isolation treatment or leave isolation treatment without authorization before the isolation period expires, the public security organs may assist medical institutions to take compulsory isolation treatment measures.
For Class B or Class C, when a medical institution discovers a Class B or Class C infectious disease patient, it shall take necessary treatment and transmission control measures according to the condition.
"That is to say, patients, pathogen carriers, suspected patients, and close contacts of Class A or Class B infectious diseases controlled by Class A need to be controlled. Personnel in places where cases of Class A infectious diseases or in specific areas of the place can implement Isolation measures. Otherwise, isolation and control will not be possible," Hu Xiaoxiang said.
Today, the National Health and Medical Commission issued an announcement saying that the prevention and control measures for Class A infectious diseases against the new crown infection were lifted, and the new coronavirus pneumonia was renamed the new coronavirus infection.
In this regard, Hu Xiaoxiang explained that the name change has downplayed "pneumonia", which means that the current new coronavirus mainly causes upper respiratory tract infection rather than damage to the lower respiratory tract. After infection, it is closer to a cold. The change from tube to tube B is based on clinical support, and the reason is more sufficient."
In addition, the announcement also pointed out that the new coronavirus infection is no longer included in the management of quarantine infectious diseases stipulated in the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of the People's Republic of China.
Hu Xiaoxiang said: "This is a further relaxation of control measures, which is conducive to the smooth flow of outbound, travel, walking, and cold chain items."
After reunification, awareness of vaccination should be raised
It is reported that the "Overall Plan for the Implementation of "Class B and B Controls" for New Coronavirus Infection" has once again deployed the vaccination work, requiring further strengthening of organization and mobilization, scientific assessment of vaccination contraindications, and accelerating the increase in vaccination coverage, especially coverage of the elderly population.
In this regard, Wang Yue pointed out that after returning to Class B control, the key to epidemic prevention and control lies in the establishment of an immune barrier.
"The virus cannot disappear. From this perspective, we should build an immune barrier. On the one hand, some infected people can produce antibodies by themselves to build an immune barrier; For personnel, I think it is still necessary to adopt an active immunization method to build an immune barrier, that is, vaccination."
Judging from the vaccination situation, he believes that the current society's awareness of vaccination needs to be further improved.
"We know from looking at the flu vaccine. There is flu every year, but we have always paid little attention to flu vaccination. From the perspective of health economics, the general public to get flu vaccination will benefit the most for the entire social group .”
Wang Yue said that epidemic prevention should focus on establishing an active immune barrier, because the passive immune barrier established by patients through their own infection with the virus requires much more time and economic cost than vaccination.
From the perspective of overall prevention and control, Hu Xiaoxiang added: "Regardless of whether there are strict prevention and control measures against the new coronary pneumonia, in the season when influenza frequently occurs, we need to pay attention to taking certain protective measures." (End)