Text | Zhang Shuxia
The mutant new coronavirus Omiljun strain continues to spread globally. According to the World Health Organization, in the past 30 days, 58.5% of the gene sequences uploaded worldwide are the Omikeron strain, which spreads quickly and is highly contagious and is rapidly replacing other variants.
Domestically, imported cases of Omicron have been reported in 14 provinces. Recently, the virus has also caused local epidemics in Tianjin, Henan Anyang, Guangdong, Shanghai and other places.
However, there seems to be no regard for the lethality of Theomex, with some believing that "infection is just a large flu", and even arguing that "herd immunity can be achieved by allowing the Aomikeron epidemic".
Is this really the case? What is the transmissibility, pathogenicity and mortality rate of Omicron? What measures need to be taken to prevent and control the Omiljung virus outbreak? The reporter of the "Finance and Economics National Weekly" takes you to see them one by one.
▲ On January 9, 2022, at a nucleic acid testing point in Tianjin's Binhai High-tech Zone, residents lined up to wait for nucleic acid testing. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhao Zishuo
Symptoms are relatively mild
First of all, let's look at the first concern of many people: Judging from the actual treatment of confirmed cases in China from this round of epidemic, what are the symptoms of infection with Omicron?
"The symptoms of this round of the epidemic are relatively mild, 30% are asymptomatic, half of the patients with mild diseases, and some are ordinary types, with fewer severe diseases." Whether in children or adults, this is basically the law. Zhang Boli, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, introduced at the recent press conference on the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Tianjin.
Moreover, compared with the previous symptoms of new crown pneumonia, the symptoms of confirmed patients in the Tianjin epidemic have also changed.
Specifically, some people are asymptomatic at first, and after two or three days, they slowly appear upper respiratory tract symptoms, mostly cough, sore throat, fever, even fever is moderate fever, 38 ° C to 38.5 ° C, wheezing is relatively mild, the disease is mainly concentrated in the upper respiratory tract air tube, and the gastrointestinal symptoms are relatively small.
As an expert in the treatment of infected children, Zhang Ying, deputy chief physician of the Department of Pediatrics of the General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, also introduced in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that the infected children in this round of epidemic are more mild and asymptomatic, and there are very few ordinary ones, and there are no very serious symptoms. The initial clinical symptoms of children are mainly nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, sore throat, and some have fever symptoms, but high fever is rare.
▲On January 9, 2022, at a nucleic acid testing point in Jinxi Huayuan Community, Zhongbei Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, parents held their children for nucleic acid testing. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ran
Moreover, after observation and symptomatic treatment, after two or three days, "the body temperature of the children with fever basically returned to normal, and the cough symptoms have slowed down." ”
Zhai Jia, the leader of the medical team of Tianjin Children's Hospital in Haihe Hospital and the chief physician of the Comprehensive Internal Medicine Department of the Racecourse Branch, said that as of the morning of January 17, the body temperature of the 78 children admitted to the hospital had returned to normal.
The reporter of "Finance and Economics National Weekly" noted that according to the classification information that has been released so far, in the local epidemic caused by Omi Kerong, serious patients are extremely rare.
In Tianjin, as of January 18, this round of the epidemic has reported a total of 326 confirmed cases of local new crown pneumonia, mainly mild and ordinary. In Anyang, Henan, as of January 17, the current round of epidemic has reported a total of 404 locally confirmed cases, and there are no seriously ill patients.
"From the clinical symptoms seen, the main manifestations are dry mouth, bitter mouth, sore throat, systemic symptoms are relatively mild, respiratory symptoms are relatively mild." Yu Zujiang, head of the medical treatment team of the Fifth People's Hospital of Anyang City, said.
However, it is worth noting that on January 16, Tianjin reported a critical case of COVID-19. However, the patient's condition is relatively special, 61 years old, there is a brain tumor, left nephrectomy and other previous medical history, 2 years ago found lung cancer, interventional and chemotherapy treatment, because lung cancer bedridden did not receive the new crown vaccine.
Yu Zujiang also suggested that from the perspective of the patients admitted to the hospital, there are still some high-risk groups, such as diabetes, hypertension, and some chronic disease groups with tumor comorbidities, which need to be highly concerned and actively prevent patients from developing in the direction of severe illness or critical illness.
Multiple studies from different parts of the world have shown that the symptoms of pneumonia caused by Omi kerong are relatively mild.
For example, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study of patients who were hospitalized during the peak of infection in Omikejong, South Africa, and the results showed that during the epidemic of the Omikeron variant, the incidence of hospitalization was lower and the severity of admitted patients was lower, including the need for oxygen, mechanical ventilation, lower rates of admission to intensive care units, lower mortality rates, and shorter hospital stays than the original strain and delta variant.
Considering that as of December 2021, 44.3% of South African adults had been vaccinated, and more than 50% of the population had been exposed to the new crown virus, more data were needed to analyze whether the reduced risk of hospitalization of positive patients at the peak of the epidemic in Omilon was due to the immunity brought by previous infections or vaccinations, or the reduction in "toxicity" of Omiljung itself.
▲ On February 17, 2021, a medical worker was vaccinated against COVID-19 at Kajelica Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Xinhua News Agency/AFP
Prevention is difficult
The symptoms and characteristics of domestic Aomi Kerong infected people and foreign real-world studies have an important reference role for people to understand the characteristics and risks of Omilon.
However, some experts believe that this is only early data, and the spread of Omilon, immune escape can not be ignored, still can not be ignored the threat of Omilon. More studies are needed to prove the toxicity, pathogenicity or mortality of the Omiljung virus.
Recently, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also publicly stated that although the risk of severe illness in Opickron is lower than that of Delta, this does not mean that it should be classified as "moderate".
Zhang Wenhong, director of the National Center for Infectious Disease Medicine and director of the Department of Infectious Diseases of Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, believes that the Aomi Kerong variant currently shows different characteristics in different countries, and there is no scientific basis for the view that The Omicron is a "large flu".
He also said that the severe illness of Omicron is declining, but the toxicity cannot be ignored. His team made a wide-ranging comparison of the Ami keron and Delta viruses, the former causing no less fever than the latter. "Judging from the latest calculated case fatality rate in the United States, if nothing is really done, it will have very serious consequences."
For the prevention and control of the epidemic of the Omikejong variant, the more obvious difficulty is that it is more transmissible and hidden.
First of all, in terms of transmission, experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently publicly responded that the epidemiological data of many countries suggest that the transmission capacity of the Omikerong variant strain has been enhanced compared with other variants. The World Health Organization's 23 December 2021 briefing on Omikeron showed a household renewal rate of 15.8 percent, up from 10.3 percent in Delta. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, in the week from December 26, 2021 to January 1, 2022, 95.4% of the new crown pneumonia cases in the United States were infected by the Olmikron variant.
On December 2, 2021, people ordered food at a restaurant in New York, USA. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Ying
A study published on the website of the University of Hong Kong's Li Ka Shing School of Medicine showed that the Olmi kerong strain was infected and replicated nearly 70 times more in human bronchial tissue than the Delta strain and the original strain. This explains why Amiqueron spreads more easily.
On the other hand, the relatively mild symptoms of its triggering symptoms have become a difficult point in identifying the virus.
"Mild disease makes the virus extremely insidious and difficult to identify. There are more mild patients staying at home, spreading in the family, only when the serious patients appear to go to the doctor, will be found, at this time has infected a large piece, this is the most terrible. Wu Zunyou, chief expert in epidemiology at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
This view is confirmed by the development of the current outbreak in Tianjin, where the earliest confirmed cases were found to be active medical treatment, when the virus had been transmitted in the community for at least three generations.
In addition, due to the strong spread of transmission, if prevention and control is not in place, it may lead to a surge in the number of patients, affecting the normal operation of the medical system. The World Health Organization has suggested that the huge number of new cases is placing a heavy burden on the health care system.
According to public reports, the number of workers in the UK, the hardest hit area of the Impact of Omicron, has 41% higher in early 2022 for its national health system workers due to COVID-19. In response, the Royal College of Nursing said that the problem of manpower shortage is so serious and widespread that hospitals are no longer safe.
Dynamic Zero is still valid
As the Omiljunn variant spreads in more and more countries and regions around the world, the risk of importing people and objects into the mainland is gradually increasing. At present, 14 provinces in China have reported imported cases of Aumechjong, and Tianjin, Henan and other places have also reported the local Opichron epidemic.
So, for Omi kerong, will the mainland's prevention and control measures be upgraded?
According to the analysis and judgment of experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Aomi Kerong variant does not affect the sensitivity and specificity of mainstream nucleic acid detection reagents in mainland China. The mainland's general strategy of "external defense input, internal defense rebound" and "dynamic clearance" general policy are still valid for the Aumechjong variant.
At the press conference of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council held on January 15, He Qinghua, a first-level inspector of the Disease Control Bureau of the National Health commission, introduced the mainland's current prevention and control strategy.
Specifically, in terms of foreign defense imports: first, through the strict implementation of the closed-loop management of inbound personnel, the second is to strictly control the high-risk post personnel who come into contact with the goods and environment of inbound personnel, the third is to increase the proportion of sampling of relevant inbound goods, and the fourth is to strictly implement measures such as terminal disinfection of inbound aircraft, continuously strengthen source control, and strictly control the import of the epidemic.
▲Epidemic prevention personnel are disinfecting packages. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Peng
In terms of internal prevention and rebound, one is to continue to carry out monitoring and early warning of key populations, key places and key units; second, to continue to promote the vaccination of new crown vaccines; third, to continue to guide the public to adhere to daily health protection, regular ventilation, wearing masks, frequent hand washing, etc.; fourth, to quickly deal with every sporadic or clustered epidemic that occurs, and effectively curb the further spread and spread of the epidemic.
For individuals, while receiving the new crown vaccine, wearing masks, paying attention to hand hygiene, indoor ventilation, maintaining social distance, not gathering together, and doing a good job of personal daily hygiene can still effectively prevent personal infection.
"If we are fast enough to prevent the epidemic and run ahead of the virus, we can win every dynamic clearance victory." Zhang Wenhong said that China's best strategy at this time is to maintain strategic determination and patience, maintain the strategy of strengthening vaccination and public health prevention and control strategies, exchange time for space, and finally at the most appropriate time node, successfully pass the pandemic period with a very low COVID-19 mortality rate, and gradually realize the normalization of life.
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