Evening News| some experts believe that the symptoms of the Omicron are milder than the symptoms of the flu

1. National Health Commission: The current round of global epidemic is a high epidemic that will not end in the near future

"The current global pandemic is high and will not end in the near future." On March 18, at a press conference held by the New Office of the State Council on strictly grasping the prevention and control of the epidemic, Wang Hesheng, deputy director of the National Health Commission and director of the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, said, "The mainland will continue to face the epidemic prevention and control situation in many places in the same period, mainly the Omicron virus strain, and it can be said that the situation of prevention and control is becoming increasingly severe and complex." ”

Wang Hesheng said that the epidemic in the mainland has shown the characteristics of many points, wide coverage and frequent occurrence. The main reasons are four aspects, one is that since December 2021, the global new crown pneumonia has entered the fourth wave of epidemic peaks, and now it has been 11 consecutive weeks, the number of reported cases per week has exceeded 10 million, and it is still at a high level of epidemic. Especially since the beginning of this year, the epidemic situation in countries and regions around the mainland has risen rapidly, and the "pressure difference" with the level of the epidemic in the mainland has been increasing. From January to February this year, the number of infected people imported every day was 91 cases per day, much higher than the 22 cases in 2020 and 32 cases in 2021. Since March this year, the average number of imported infected people has exceeded 200 per day, and the highest number of cases in a single day has exceeded 300. "It can be said that the pressure of the recent epidemic import has increased significantly."

Second, the recent major global epidemic of the Olmi kerong variant, especially the BA.2 sub-branch, is more transmissible and occult than the previous virus strains, and the difficulty of early detection is indeed greater, resulting in the discovery of the epidemic often has a certain range, "It can be said that the difficulty of epidemic disposal and control is also greater." Wang Hesheng said.

Third, the end of February this year coincided with the end of the spring festival holiday on the mainland, the opening of the spring semester of students, the resumption of work of enterprise workers, etc., which brought about a large-scale flow of personnel, coupled with the increase in conference training, marriage and funeral and other gathering activities of various personnel, which can be said to have become the "communicator" and "amplifier" of the epidemic, resulting in the rapid spread of the epidemic, and even cross-regional transmission.

Fourth, some places believe that the symptoms of the Aomi Kerong variant strain are mild, influenza is flu, the thinking is loose and paralyzed, there is a mentality of "resting the feet and slowing down", the preparation in all aspects is insufficient, and the requirements for normalized prevention and control and emergency handling have been relaxed.

"We organized experts to analyze and judge, and everyone believes that the current round of global epidemic is a high epidemic and will not end in the near future." The mainland will continue to face the epidemic prevention and control situation dominated by the Olmi kerong virus strain in many places at the same time, and it can be said that the situation of prevention and control is becoming increasingly severe and complex. Wang Hesheng said.

At the same time, the results of the circulation traceability also show that the recent local cluster epidemics on the mainland are caused by overseas imported sources, and because after the infection of the Aomi Kerong variant strain, it is mainly mild and asymptomatic, resulting in more hidden import sources and more diverse transmission methods. Moreover, there are multiple transmission chains in the epidemic situation in many places, and the source of the epidemic is also complex, which brings great challenges to the traceability and prevention and control work.

Wang Hesheng stressed that these characteristics of the current round of epidemic require us to further improve the sensitivity of monitoring and early warning, improve the monitoring mechanism triggered by multiple points, and effectively improve the "early detection" ability of the epidemic.

2. Shenzhen police: A man who was positive for nucleic acid was investigated for lying about his trip and used other people's health codes to participate in gathering activities

According to the "Futian Police" Weibo message, on March 17, the Futian Branch of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau reported that on March 15, the Futian police received a report from the disease control department that Zhang Mouhui (male, 51 years old) tested positive for nucleic acid, and during the circulation process, it was found that he had used other people's health codes and was suspected of concealing his itinerary. After receiving the report, the police immediately launched an investigation.

After investigation, Zhang Mouhui violated the epidemic prevention regulations during the home health monitoring, went out many times, and used other people's identity information and health codes to participate in gathering activities. On the 13th, after Zhang Mouhui learned that the nucleic acid test was positive, he lied about the itinerary, concealed the contact history, and did not cooperate with the circulation work.

At present, Zhang Mouhui has been sent to the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen Municipality for isolation and treatment, and the places involved, the close contacts and the sub-close contacts have been included in the closed-loop control; the police have filed a case against Zhang Mouhui and Li Mouxing (male, 34 years old), who provided identity information to assist him in going out, for the crime of obstructing the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

3. The fourth dose of vaccine has "minimal effect" on the fight against the new crown virus

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine by Sheba Medical Center in Israel showed that a fourth dose of the mRNA vaccine restores antibody titers to peaks after the third dose, but provides little additional resistance to the coronavirus. The study also highlights that a third dose of the vaccine remains extremely important for people who have not been infected with the new crown virus. Gili Regev-Yochay, director of infection prevention and control at Sheba Medical Center, said that of about 600 subjects, 270 were given a fourth dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, and their levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies or neutralizing antibodies were roughly similar to those measured one month after the third dose. The results of the interim trial showed that the fourth dose of the vaccine was not significant compared to healthy young people who received three doses of the vaccine, and only played a "mild protective" role in preventing symptomatic infections.

Sheba Medical Center launched a study on the safety and efficacy of the fourth dose of the vaccine in December 2021, and the initial findings released by the center on January 17 showed that the fourth dose of the vaccine was less effective against the Olmiqueron strain, and many people who received the fourth dose of the vaccine were still infected with the Olmikron strain.

4. Israel discovers the Aomi Kerong BA.4 variant

On March 16, local time, the Israeli Ministry of Health said that "a previously unidentified strain of the new coronavirus variant" was detected in two returning Israelis, which seemed to be a combination of the Omilon BA.1 and Omilon BA.2 variants. At the same time, a foreign media report said that a new strain recombined by BA.1 and BA.3 has appeared in many countries and has been initially named BA.4.

Take Omilon BA.4, for example, it is the reorganization between Omikeron BA.1 and BA.3. BA.3 may have contributed part of the genome (about 2000 amino acids) in the NSP3 (non-structural protein) gene, and the rest was contributed by BA.1, which combined to form a new strain. In addition, after the recombination was completed, BA.4 had two more unique mutations, namely mutations in the N-terminal domains of NSP15 (N11S) and spike protein (L212I).

5, infectious disease prevention and control experts: Omi kerong is less than the symptoms of influenza, more and more like a cold

Jiang Rongmeng, vice president of Beijing Ditan Hospital, believes that the symptoms caused by Omicron are more like colds, and there are few symptoms of pneumonia. As a member of China's new crown pneumonia medical treatment expert group, Jiang Rongmeng participated in the revision of the diagnosis and treatment plan throughout the process. Jiang Rongmeng believes that the current new crown should be said to be more and more like a cold, at present, Omicron is less than the symptoms of influenza. In the past month or so, our hospital has treated more than 400 infected people, most of whom have very mild symptoms, no fever of more than three days, and no seriously ill patients.