What does the discovery of Omicron in the mainland mean? How to protect yourself? Experts’ latest interpretation

The Tianjin Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted whole genome sequencing and sequence analysis of respiratory specimens of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients imported from abroad into Tianjin on December 9. After review by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 (B.1.1.529 evolutionary branch) was confirmed. The infected person is a closed-loop control personnel entering the country and is currently receiving isolation treatment in a designated hospital. It is reported that this is the first time that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been found in mainland China.

What does the discovery of the Omicron variant in the mainland mean? How should the public protect themselves? A Beijing Evening News (ID: wxbjwb) reporter interviewed Wu Hao, a community prevention and control expert of the Comprehensive Group of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council and dean of the School of General Medicine and Continuing Education of Capital Medical University, to make judgments and interpretations on this.

1. The Omicron variant was detected for the first time among people entering Tianjin. Are you surprised by this?

Wu Hao: It should be said that it is not surprising. At present, my country is very safe. The local clusters of epidemics after the Wuhan epidemic were almost all caused by overseas imports. The Delta variant also caused panic at the time. Its global spread was even wider than that of the Omicron variant. Finally, in May of this year, Delta broke through the defense line in Guangzhou and entered the country. I also rushed to Guangzhou to support the fight against the epidemic. It was also caused by imported cases from abroad. The difference is that this time the Omicron variant was found at the entry quarantine point, which shows that the current epidemic control and monitoring network is very sensitive.

2. Will the Omicron variant break through the defense line and spread locally in the future?

Wu Hao: The mutation of the novel coronavirus is a normal state. my country is currently adopting a "dynamic zero" strategy, which is to prepare for a long-term battle with the novel coronavirus, place more emphasis on precise prevention and control, and coordinate epidemic prevention and control with normal economic production and life. According to the current epidemic prevention and control policy, even if the variant of Omicron spreads locally, we can eliminate it as soon as possible and reduce the impact of the epidemic on production and life.

Based on past experience, high-risk people working in related industries in port cities may be at high risk of infection. The State Council's joint prevention and control mechanism issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 in Port Cities" to solve this problem. In addition to requiring the establishment of a port prevention and control team to coordinate and command, strengthen management of employees in high-risk positions, and improve local epidemic prevention and control and disposal capabilities, the notice also controls the flow of people in port cities and enhances early detection and warning capabilities.

It is particularly pointed out that in the past, port cities were all controlled as a whole, which had a certain impact on the economy and put certain pressure on the implementation of various epidemic prevention and control measures. This time, it is proposed to set up epidemic prevention and control buffer zones in port cities with conditions and implement differentiated management policies based on different regions. In fact, it draws on the concepts of closed-off areas, control areas and prevention areas in epidemic prevention and control, and implements relatively strict control measures in the epidemic prevention and control buffer zones of port cities. Outside the buffer zones, the requirements for normalized prevention and control are effectively implemented. In this way, the checkpoints are moved forward, and the maximum effect of epidemic prevention and control can be achieved with the least social impact and the lowest social cost.

3. The Omicron variant has entered the mainland, and some people feel panicked. Do you have any suggestions for this?

Wu Hao: High-risk groups transmitted the new coronavirus to local residents, which is the second-generation transmission of the virus. It is very important to block it at this stage. If it spreads to the third or fourth generation and enters the community level, the difficulty of prevention and control will suddenly increase.

How to reduce the second or third generation transmission of the virus? There are two points that need special reminders. First, when traveling or on a business trip, you must strictly abide by local epidemic prevention regulations such as scanning codes, so that once there is an epidemic, the follow-up flow survey can be quickly and accurately locked. After returning to the local area from other cities or regions, try to go back and forth between the two points within 7 days, do not visit each other, and reduce the gathering of people. Second, individuals should pay attention to the epidemic situation in various places and the risk warnings of local disease control departments. If you have a history of travel or residence in medium- and high-risk areas, especially if you have symptoms related to new coronary pneumonia after returning, you must actively report it. If these two points are implemented well, the spread of the virus can generally be controlled to the smallest possible range.

Epidemic prevention and control is not only related to the government's response mechanism, but also closely related to the public's health literacy. In the recent Beijing epidemic, some Fengtai and Haidian cases took the initiative to observe at home after returning to Beijing from other places, and took the initiative to report relevant symptoms after they appeared, which won the first opportunity for epidemic prevention and control. Therefore, we must increase the publicity of the legal system and improve the public's awareness of self-protection.

4. For the general public, do existing protective measures need to be adjusted in the face of the Omicron variant?

Wu Hao: The Omicron variant is essentially still a new coronavirus, and its transmission pattern is similar to that of previous new coronaviruses, so conventional protective methods are still effective. An intuitive example is that some confirmed cases in Beijing have taken the subway in the past, but it did not cause large-scale transmission in crowded conditions. This is because the Beijing subway system complies with strict disinfection and ventilation, and the control of mask wearing is also very strict. Therefore, a few simple protective measures such as wearing masks, washing hands frequently, and more ventilation can greatly reduce the risk of infection. The key lies in implementation.

Therefore, from a national perspective, establishing a "dynamic zeroing" strategy and extinguishing an epidemic as soon as it is discovered can minimize the impact of the epidemic on the economy and life. For individuals, it is also critical to comprehensively improve health literacy. It is necessary to realize that the new coronavirus can be transmitted by people or objects, by the respiratory tract or by contact, which increases the difficulty of epidemic prevention and control. We must make long-term preparations, do a few basic protective measures well, change the government's request for me to prevent it to my own prevention, and then reduce severe illness and death through active vaccination of the new coronavirus vaccine, so as to minimize the impact of the epidemic on individuals and society.

Source: Beijing Evening News