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The new round of the new crown epidemic in China continues to spread and has affected at least 15 provinces and cities, with more than 100 local confirmed cases for two consecutive days. Let China’s strict “clearing” epidemic prevention measures be challenged.
The National Health Commission of China reported that in one day on November 3, 103 new local confirmed cases nationwide, including 16 cases of asymptomatic infections, exceeded 100 for two consecutive days.
At this time, just as the Sixth Plenary Session of the CCP is about to convene, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to pass a resolution to consolidate personal authority, which has attracted the attention of the outside world.
At the same time, the Beijing Winter Olympics has entered a three-month countdown, and various official preparations are coming to an end.
In Tianjin, a port city close to Beijing, the organizers said that due to the increase in new cases of new crown infections, the summer Davos forum originally scheduled to be held in the city from 16 to 18 this month will be postponed.
Although many international public health experts have called for proper deregulation of social control, mainland China is still implementing a stringent “zero clearing” policy. Before Shanghai Disney found cases, more than 30,000 people were required to stay in the park for overnight screening.
When interviewed by the media, Zhong Nanshan, a well-known public health expert in China, believed that the virus will continue to mutate and cannot be completely eliminated in the future. The only way to prevent transmission is to do a good job.
He pointed out that in the past two years since the outbreak of the new crown virus, the source of the virus has not yet been fully grasped and no very effective drugs are available. However, there have been some preliminary results regarding the law and characteristics of the spread of the new crown virus, and how to treat it.
“I don’t think that this virus can be completely eliminated. It may exist for a long time, but the large-scale spread of the virus can be controlled. Whether it is foreign or domestic, the antibody titer in the body is generally half a year after two injections of the full course of vaccination. It’s reduced to about one-tenth of the original, so it’s necessary to get a booster shot. Will it slowly become one in the future, like the flu, if it happens, it’s going to happen frequently. This rule still needs to be (further explored),” he said. .
New peak of the epidemic
In the past week, China has seen between 23 and 59 new local cases every day. The new round of the epidemic reached its peak on November 2, which was about 60% more than the previous two days.
According to data from the National Health Commission, the most new cases on the 3rd occurred in Heilongjiang Province in the northeast, with 46 cases; followed by Hebei, with 23 confirmed cases.
This round of the epidemic has lasted for nearly 20 days, and more than 600 people have been infected.
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“Clear to zero” policy is challenged
Where cases have emerged, the government continues the previous mandatory isolation and testing methods.
For example, in Xingyang City, Henan Province, a notice was recently issued stating that closed-loop management of the city’s communities (villages) will be implemented.
Specific measures include that people who arrive in Xingyang need to immediately report to the community (village) neighborhood committee or unit, and then conduct accounting testing and quarantine observation. The notice also called on the masses to “unnecessarily” not leave the city, and those who must leave the city, need to prepare in advance a negative test certificate within 48 hours before accepting inspection.
At present, Australia, Japan, South Korea and other countries have abandoned the “zero clearing” policy and gradually liberalized border controls.
Zhong Nanshan said that if China opens ports for entry, there will be a small cluster of epidemics. He said he was confident that Heilongjiang Province, the most severely affected province, would be controlled within one month.
Zhong Nanshan also said that the cost of the “zero-clearing” policy is indeed high, but the cost of opening entry or coexisting with the virus is even higher.
“‘Zero transmission’ or’zero tolerance’ is the last resort, because the virus spreads too quickly and the replication index is too high. Despite the vaccine, the world‘s case fatality rate is still about 2%, such a high case fatality rate. It cannot be tolerated,” Zhong Nanshan said.
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Advance the third stitch
At the same time, Chinese experts also called on the public to be vaccinated with the third dose to strengthen epidemic prevention.
Zhang Wenhong, director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases of China and director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Fudan University, said on the 3rd that the current global new crown epidemic has reached a “very critical” period. More and more countries will start to strengthen the third dose of vaccination.
“Now the third dose of vaccination is a very good global choice,” Zhang Wenhong said.
At present, the third dose of vaccination has been launched in many places in China, and this plan is uniformly deployed by the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism.