Beijing, July 6 (Xinhua) -- In the past few days, the local epidemic has reappeared in many places, and in the new outbreak of epidemics in Xi'an and Beijing, the genetic sequencing of the infected virus has successively pointed to the more transmissible Branch of Aomi Kerong BA.5.2.
29 new cases were added in 4 days, and Xi'an entered the "7-day temporary control"
At 0-24:00 on July 5, Shaanxi reported 1 new locally confirmed case and 10 asymptomatic infected people, all in Xi'an, according to the information released by the Shaanxi Provincial Health Commission, 4 of which were positive for nucleic acid test results in community screening, and the rest were found during the centralized isolation period.
Previously, from 0:00 on July 2 to 24:00 on July 4, Xi'an City has reported a total of 10 locally confirmed cases and 8 asymptomatic infected people.
In the face of the recurrence of the epidemic, Xi'an announced that from 0:00 on July 6, the city will implement temporary control measures for 7 days. Zhang Xuedong, deputy director of the office of the Xi'an Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters and deputy secretary-general of the municipal government, said that the 7-day temporary control measure is to calm the society as much as possible, reduce social mobility, quickly identify potential risk sources, and reduce the risk of cross-infection.
"Because the Aomi Kerong strain is more contagious and spreads faster, some infected people have no symptoms or symptoms that are atypical, so the transmission process is more insidious." Zhang Xuedong said.
As of 12:00 on the 6th, Xi'an had 9 high-risk areas and 10 medium-risk areas.
Infographic: A woman gives her virus sampling tube to a health care worker. China News Service reporter Jia Tianyong photographed
The BA.5 variant strain that must be vigilant
A very important reason why the epidemic in Xi'an has attracted much attention comes from the results of virus sequencing of this epidemic. According to genetic sequencing, the strains infected by the positive infected people in xi'an were all BA.5.2 branches of the Omikerong variant.
On the 6th, the epidemic press conference in Beijing also introduced that the disease control department conducted genetic sequencing of the specimens of infected people 1 to 3 reported in Beijing on July 5, and the results showed that the viruses belonged to the BA.5.2 branch of the Omiljung variant.
Since December last year, the Omiljunn variant of the new crown virus has become the main epidemic strain of the global COVID-19 epidemic, and as the Omiljunn variant continues to evolve, WHO listed the sub-branches of six Omikejong variants as "evolutionary branches of the monitoring variants of concern", including 4 sub-branches of BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2 on 18 May this year.
In May this year, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Weekly (English) published an online article reporting the specific situation of the first case of ba.5 infection with the Ami kerong variant imported from abroad in the mainland.
According to the Xi'an epidemic press conference held on the 5th, the epidemic of the Aomi Kerong mutant strain BA.5.2 branch is faster than other circulating variants, such as ba.2 that led to a surge in local cases in the mainland at the beginning of the year, the CT value of infected cases is low, and the infectivity is strong, this strain has caused a new round of epidemic peaks in the world, so the current epidemic situation in Xi'an is severe and complex, and it is not ruled out that there will be a new chain of transmission in the follow-up, causing a high risk of community continued transmission.
At present, BA.4 and BA.5 have become the main epidemic strains in South Africa, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Israel and other countries; Recently, france, the Netherlands and other European countries and the United States have also seen an increase in BA.4 and BA.5 infections.
Wang Wenling, a researcher at the Institute of Viral Disease Prevention and Control of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, introduced on June 28 that the recent epidemic in Macao, China was triggered by the BA.5 variant strain, and the current epidemic strain in various parts of the country is still the Aomi Kerong BA.2 sub-branch series. Judging from the existing preliminary research results, the spread and immune escape ability of the new coronavirus Omilkerong mutant strains BA.4 and BA.5 have been slightly enhanced, the difficulty of prevention and control will increase, and the pressure of China's foreign defense will increase.
Infographic: The picture shows a citizen riding in front of the Xi'an Bell Tower. Photo by Zhang Yuan
Most of the cases in Xi'an are waste recyclers
According to the epidemic press conference in Xi'an on the 5th, the virus came from abroad, but the source is not yet clear. Because the main place of the epidemic- Shaanxi Chaohui Renewable Resources Trading And Distribution Market (Dafeng Recycling Art Museum) is the largest renewable resources trading market in Shaanxi Province, involving a wide range of areas and complex personnel composition.
According to the notification of Xi'an, the vast majority of positive infected people found so far are related to waste recyclers or their related personnel, and most of the positive infected people have a history of contact with working together and living together.
In addition, most of the cases that have been found are waste recyclers, this professional population has a large range of activities, contact with many people, and many cases of activity trajectories before control involve multiple restaurants, supermarkets, communities, large trading markets, high-speed service areas and other places where personnel gather and have large mobility.
However, the early infected people in xi'an's current round of epidemic were found in the routine nucleic acid testing of key personnel who "should be checked" and were basically in an early state of infection when they were found.
According to the "Shaanxi Daily" report, at present, the Shaanxi Chaohui Renewable Resources Trading and Distribution Market (Dafeng Regenerative Art Museum) has been closed, and 438 people in the market have been controlled, nucleic acid sampling and centralized isolation have been carried out, and the market has been comprehensively sanitize. Xi'an City's 87 tributaries to adjust the flow of 56 merchants in the market and 19 risk points in Chang'an District, a total of more than 1,400 people in the dense connection and sub-close contact personnel, all of which are in place.
The secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and the governor of Shaanxi Province have been deployed one after another
After the outbreak of the epidemic in Xi'an, the secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and the governor of Shaanxi Province successively dispatched and deployed the epidemic to deal with the epidemic.
According to the "Shaanxi Daily" report, Liu Guozhong, secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, stressed at the Xi'an Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters on the 5th that the communities identified as high-risk areas should be strictly "staying at home and providing door-to-door services", and the communities in medium-risk areas should be "people not leaving the area and taking things at the wrong peak", and at the same time, the basic needs of the masses such as daily necessities, electricity, and medical treatment should be guaranteed; Other regions should implement normalized prevention and control measures, and cannot increase the number of layers.
Liu Guozhong also demanded that around all aspects of the closed-loop management of inbound personnel, we should persist in the same investigation of people and things, speed up the investigation of loopholes in prevention and control, and strengthen work measures in a targeted manner.
On the same day, Zhao Yide, governor of Shaanxi Province, presided over the video dispatch meeting of the province's epidemic prevention and control, asking Xi'an City to take the epidemic control as the last word, firmly grasp the window period for epidemic disposal, adhere to the word "fast", race every second to carry out flow traceability, comprehensively and efficiently organize nucleic acid screening, continuously accelerate the speed of transfer and isolation, and ensure that all risk personnel should be isolated and not miss a single person.
He also stressed that it is necessary to strictly implement measures to prevent foreign imports, further strengthen the isolation and control of the whole process of entry personnel, the prevention and control of the whole chain of entry items and traceability management, and resolutely prevent the virus from breaking out of the circle. (End)
Source: China News Network