Zhejiang epidemic superimposed on the risk of "Aomi Kerong" How to deal with China's epidemic prevention strategy?

With the onset of winter, the global COVID-19 pandemic has also ushered in a new wave of peaks. A few days ago, China also detected for the first time the "Aomi Kerong" variant that poses a new threat to the global epidemic, and in the case that the epidemic situation in Zhejiang has not completely decreased, the entry of "Aomi Kerong" has also put forward new challenges to China's epidemic prevention strategy.

Economic opening-up remains uncertain

On 13 December, China monitored the first case of infection with the "Omikerong" variant. In this regard, Gu Qing, director of the office of the Tianjin Municipal New Crown Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters and director of the Tianjin Municipal Health Commission, revealed that the "Aomi Kerong" detected for the first time was an asymptomatic infected person, an inbound person from Europe, who currently has no cough, fever and other symptoms, and is now being isolated in the designated hospital for new crown pneumonia in Tianjin.

Gu Qing said that at present, in the nucleic acid test of the inbound personnel of the flight, no other infected people have been found. "Although this strain of the virus will continue to appear mutated, the prevention methods and measures for this disease are basically the same." Gu Qing said. As of December 13, Tianjin had received a total of 28.398 million doses of covid-19 vaccine, with 94.9% of the first doses of vaccination and 93.9% of the whole vaccination rate of people over 12 years old.

At the same time, Zhejiang is experiencing the impact of a new round of the epidemic. As of Tuesday, at least 20 listed companies in Zhejiang said they had suspended operations due to the impact of the epidemic, and the latest factories that announced the suspension of production included Mustang Battery, Guobang Pharmaceutical and Zhejiang Yantu.

The heads of two production enterprises in Shaoxing told the first financial reporter: "At present, the factories and production activities in the Shangyu area have all been suspended, and many workers are in home isolation. ”

Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou account for half of Zhejiang's economy, achieving a GDP output value of 6.46 trillion yuan last year and are also an important manufacturing base in China.

As the new coronavirus variants ravaged the world, it also brought greater uncertainty to the otherwise open global economy. At present, many countries have tightened their epidemic prevention strategies and adopted stricter control measures.

Zhang Wenhong, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, recently put forward three major ideas at a scientific summit in the Greater Bay Area on the new uncertainties brought by "Ami Kerong" to global opening up. He said that the best situation is that the virus is spreading globally or locally, the virulence is weak, which will make the current austerity policy gradually relaxed; the acceptable situation is: the virus is strong, the virulence is also strong, but the strengthening of the vaccine can effectively respond, in this case, it is basically able to maintain the status quo, the need to speed up the vaccine to strengthen the vaccination; the more severe situation is that the virus is strong, the virulence is strong, and the vaccine strengthening is ineffective, which requires a new strategy for vaccines and tightening prevention and control strategies.

The first case of infection with "Omi kerong" was detected worldwide

At present, the transmission rate of "Omi Kerong" in many countries has been significantly accelerated, and the first case of infection with the "Omilon" variant of death has been found in the United Kingdom. Although the data previously monitored by various countries showed that the symptoms caused by Omi kerong were generally mild, there is still no conclusive conclusion as to the virulence of the variant.

"What we now know about the Omikejung mutant is that it is spreading at an alarming rate, which we have never seen before, with the number of infections doubling every two to three days." Uk Health Minister Sajid Javid said on Monday that "now that more than 20% of cases of infection with this variant in the UK and more than 44% in London, we expect it to be the dominant variant in London in the next two days, which means we will once again be in the race between vaccines and viruses." ”

Disease modelers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine released a report on Saturday that the number of daily confirmed infections in the UK this winter is expected to exceed last year's peak. In a preprint report they posted online, they wrote that this could lead to twice as many hospitalizations per day this year as last year.

Japanese scientists published an early study last week showing that the "Omikeron" variant is 4.2 times more contagious than the "Delta" variant, a finding that further confirms that the new coronavirus is spreading at an accelerated rate through mutation.

A new quarantine recommendation released by the French Scientific Council on Monday warned that the "Omilon" variant is spreading faster than expected and its effects will be felt in the coming weeks.

According to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, "Omi kerong" may become the main epidemic strain in Europe between January and March next year, depending on how faster the "Omilon" spreads faster than the "Delta".

The European Union previously calculated that "Omilon" spreads more than twice as fast as "Delta", saying that if 1% of COVID-19 cases in Europe are currently infected with "Omikeron", it may dominate Europe by January 1 next year.

The World Health Organization also said in a recent briefing: "Given the current data, the Omikejong variant spreads much faster than the Delta variant and is likely to surpass Delta and become the main epidemic strain." ”

Even though the virus can only cause milder symptoms, researchers are concerned. Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, believes that the rapid spread of the virus may lay hidden dangers for future mutations.

"I don't think there's good news about fast-spreading mutants." "Rapid spread means that the virus could infect billions of people and another mutation could appear," Burra said. ”

At present, a number of research data on the effectiveness of vaccines against the "Omi kerong" variant are also gradually becoming clear. A new study published monday by researchers at the University of Oxford further demonstrates that two doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech are not effective in coping with symptomatic infections caused by "Omil krong".

Another report from the CDC in the United States suggests that even people who have been vaccinated with the booster vaccine cannot completely avoid contracting the "Omikeron" variant. But the researchers say two doses of the vaccine, along with enhanced vaccinations, are expected to still be effective in preventing serious diseases caused by the virus.

Experts from the French Scientific Council also said that they are considering strengthening the dose of the third dose of the vaccine to provide better protection against the "Omi keron" variant. The current booster dose of Moderna is 50 g. Experts from the scientific committee say it is recommended to increase it to 100 g in the coming weeks to induce a better immune response.