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As the Omicron epidemic spreads, China’s National Health and Medical Commission released the ninth edition of the “New Coronary Virus Pneumonia Diagnosis and Treatment Plan”, which clarified that patients with mild infections do not need to be admitted to the hospital, and relaxed the criteria for release from isolation and discharge.
According to data from the National Health Commission, from 0 to 24:00 on March 16, 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported 1,317 new confirmed cases, including 1,226 local cases and new local asymptomatic infections. 1206 cases.
what has changed
On March 15, the National Health and Medical Commission of China issued the “New Coronary Virus Pneumonia Diagnosis and Treatment Plan (Trial Version 9)”, proposing that isolation management and treatment places should be determined according to the condition, mild infections do not need to be admitted to the hospital, and the release of isolation and discharge from the hospital were relaxed. standard.
According to the plan: “Central isolation management is implemented for mild cases, and relevant centralized isolation places cannot isolate people entering the country, close contacts and other groups at the same time. During the isolation management period, symptomatic treatment and condition monitoring should be done. If the condition worsens, it should be transferred to a designated hospital for treatment. “
However, for ordinary, severe, critical cases and cases with severe high-risk factors, the plan states that centralized treatment should be given in designated hospitals. Among them, severe and critical cases should be admitted to ICU for treatment as soon as possible, and patients with high-risk factors and prone to severe disease should also be treated. Admission to ICU treatment.
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There are also adjustments in the new plan in terms of lifting isolation and hospital discharge criteria. In the new version of the diagnosis and treatment plan, the “two consecutive negative nucleic acid tests of respiratory specimens (sampling time interval of at least 24 hours)” in the criteria for release of isolation management and discharge was revised to “two consecutive new coronavirus nucleic acid tests with N gene and ORF gene Ct values ≥ 35 (Fluorescence quantitative PCR method, the threshold value is 40, and the sampling time is at least 24 hours apart), or two consecutive negative nucleic acid tests for the new coronavirus (fluorescence quantitative PCR method, the threshold value is less than 35, and the sampling time is at least 24 hours apart)” .
In addition, the plan revised “continue 14-day isolation management and health monitoring after discharge from hospital” to “continue 7-day home health monitoring after release of isolation management or discharge from hospital”.
Zhang Wenhong, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, explained in an interview with Chinese media that in the future, mild cases will be isolated and no longer received from designated hospitals because the proportion of mild cases progressing to severe cases is very low.
Regarding the revision of the management and discharge standards for release from isolation, he believes that after the nucleic acid reaches a certain level, the infectious virus can no longer be detected, so it is almost non-infectious.
“Our nucleic acid positive judgment criteria, from stricter criteria to the current international synchronization, has reduced the standard hospital stay. More patients can be discharged early, which will greatly ease the pressure on our medical resources.” Zhang Wenhong Say.
Omicron’s Challenge
Recently, the Omicron variant virus has spread rapidly in China. Shenzhen, Changchun, Jilin and other places have adopted strict blockade measures. Many cases have also begun to appear in Shanghai, which has always been regarded as a model student of epidemic prevention.
Many people worry about whether China’s strict epidemic prevention measures in the past can stop the highly contagious Omikron virus, and whether repeated large-scale city closure measures will have an impact on China’s economy.
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“The next two weeks will be critical in determining whether current policies can actually effectively curb the growth of infections, or even achieve zero infections in one city as we saw last year,” Chen Zhengming, a professor of epidemiology at Oxford University, told Reuters.
“Regardless of the cost, the old method is very effective, (preventing the epidemic) is the biggest political task,” Chen Zhengming said, “and if changes are made, the public may misunderstand it as giving up.”
Reuters quoted some experts as saying that China’s response to the new crown pneumonia is not sustainable.
Hiroshi Nishiura, a professor at Kyoto University, said he was “not too optimistic” even if strict lockdown measures slowed the spread.
“Multiple spread of (Omicron) in mainland China will be inevitable,” Xippo said.