At the press conference of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council held on August 10, relevant departments and experts gave an authoritative interpretation of hot issues such as the current epidemic situation and the characteristics of the new Omicron variant.

>01 New requirements for nucleic acid testing - "ten fast"

The meeting mentioned that the Omicron variant spreads quickly, so all prevention and control measures are to race against the virus, make it fast, and take speed as a work requirement for the whole process of epidemic disposal. The meeting also proposed to decompose the word fast into various key processes and links of work, and summarized the "ten fast", that is, fast sampling, fast sample delivery, fast detection, fast chasing yang, fast flow adjustment, fast investigation, fast transfer, fast isolation, fast diagnosis, and fast reporting.

nucleic acid testing is an important way to detect cases early, and it is necessary to strengthen overall scheduling, mobilize nucleic acid testing resources, and make every effort to promote the improvement of nucleic acid testing capabilities, so as to lay the foundation for completing a round of nucleic acid testing for all staff in the shortest possible time with high quality.

Taking the epidemic in Anhui, Gansu and Guangxi as examples, these regions have achieved a round of high-quality nucleic acid testing within 24 hours. The spokesperson said at the meeting that in order to greatly improve the testing efficiency, the above-mentioned areas have adjusted the nucleic acid testing methods in high- and medium-risk areas:

high-risk areas: door-to-door sampling, one household or one person;

medium-risk areas: 1:5 mixed testing is adopted, and the 1:10 mixed testing ratio is appropriately reduced.

This way, infected people can be detected as soon as possible in a short period of time, and the detection efficiency can be improved. This is also an important experience in these epidemics, which is to highlight the word "fast" in testing. The subsequent flow investigation, isolation and transfer, etc., can only be promoted in parallel on the basis of fast detection, so that the word "fast" can be highlighted simultaneously.

The meeting emphasized that it is necessary to ensure the quality of nucleic acid testing, as well as to ensure that no one or household is missed. Positive infections are detected through rapid testing to control the risk of social transmission in a timely manner.

020,020 medical and health personnel support Hainan

Mi Feng, spokesperson of the National Health Commission, said that at present, the epidemic in Sanya, Hainan Province is still in a high progression period. The epidemic situation in many provinces such as Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Guangdong is still in a stage of rapid development, and there is a certain risk of social transmission. Lhasa, Shigatse, Ali and other places in Tibet have recently reported new local epidemics, and the risk of transmission and spread is high. The local cluster epidemics that occurred in Gansu, Guangxi, Shandong and other provinces in the early stage have been effectively controlled.

In order to control the epidemic as soon as possible, the national level has increased support for Hainan. Guo Yanhong, inspector of the Medical Administration and Hospital Administration Bureau of the National Health Commission, said that the comprehensive group of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council sent a working group to Hainan to guide and station to support the epidemic prevention and control work, and at the same time, quickly coordinate the national medical force and nucleic acid testing resources.

"We have dispatched more than 10,000 medical and health personnel from 19 provinces across the country to support Hainan, and dispatched nearly 8,000 testing personnel, sampling personnel and related testing equipment to improve the nucleic acid testing capacity of Hainan Province to 2.4 million tubes per day." Guo Yanhong said.

According to reports, the working group also instructed Hainan to do a good job in door-to-door sampling in high-risk areas, conduct testing of single person and one tube and one household, and reduce the proportion of 1:10 mixed tube testing in medium-risk areas according to 1:5 mixed tube testing, so as to detect infected people as soon as possible in a short period of time; At the same time, guide the local government to improve the efficiency of epidemic disposal, so that all inspections should be carried out, all should be isolated, all should be collected, and all should be treated.

Regarding the recent local epidemic in Tibet, Guo Yanhong introduced that the Tibet Autonomous Region has actively promoted all aspects of preparations for epidemic handling in accordance with the unified deployment and requirements of the state, and the comprehensive group of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council has also sent a working group and national experts in inspection, flow control, treatment, community prevention and control to Tibet to guide epidemic prevention and control. Through all-round inter-provincial counterpart support, Tibet can also apply for medical and epidemic prevention and control support from relevant provinces. Therefore, Tibet has the ability to cope with the current epidemic.

03 Will the health code be recognized nationally after mutual recognition of nucleic acid results?

Recently, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council issued a document requiring mutual recognition of nucleic acid test results across the country. After mutual recognition of nucleic acids, will the health code be recognized nationwide?

Mi Feng said that since the issuance of the notice to promote the national mutual recognition of the new coronavirus nucleic acid test results, all localities are quickly organizing and implementing it.

For example, some places have added the function of querying nucleic acid test results from other provinces and cities and uploading them to Health Treasure, some have launched related services for nucleic acid information, and some can also switch between provincial and national nucleic acid testing databases at any time. These practices are all for the convenience of the masses, and now it seems to be progressing smoothly. If there is a situation where nucleic acid results are not mutually recognized, they can be reflected through the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council and the public message boards set up in various places, and the media is also welcome to further supervise and implement.

He also said that in the future, the timeliness of information sharing will be further improved, the management of health codes will be optimized and improved, and the safe and orderly travel of the masses will be more facilitated.

>04 New variants pose challenges but can still effectively cope with

Recently, the Omicron BA.5 strain and its evolutionary branches have been detected in many places in China. How to effectively prevent and control the response?

Dong Xiaoping, chief expert of virology at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that domestic and foreign studies have shown that compared with other Omicron variants, the epidemic characteristics and transmission characteristics of the Omicron BA.5 variant have not changed essentially, but the immune escape ability has been enhanced. At present, in accordance with the requirements of the new version of the prevention and control plan, all localities are based on rapid and accurate risk control and active response, and almost every epidemic can be effectively controlled in a short period of time, which also reflects that the ninth version of the prevention and control plan is effective against the Omicron variant.

"The primary key element in epidemic handling is 'early detection'. Dong Xiaoping said that the ninth version of the prevention and control plan requires multi-channel monitoring and early warning of eight categories of people, objects, and environment, and pays attention to the monitoring and traceability of new variants. This version of the plan highlights the concept and measures of precise scientific prevention and control, adheres to the general policy of "dynamic clearing", and puts forward higher requirements for the implementation of various normalization measures and work quality.

Wang Huaqing, chief expert of the immunization program of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the vaccines currently used in China are significant and clear in preventing severe illness and death. At present, the epidemic is still serious to the elderly, especially those who have not yet been vaccinated, and it is recommended that eligible elderly people get vaccinated as soon as possible and complete booster vaccination at prescribed intervals.