01 How to prevent and control the epidemic for employees of inbound and outbound transportation vehicles?
Currently, the national border inspection agencies check more than 20,000 employees entering the country for transportation vehicles per day, accounting for more than 70% of the total number of people entering the country. In accordance with the requirements of the central government to coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, the State Immigration Administration has strengthened coordination and cooperation with functional departments such as transportation, health and customs, and on the premise of ensuring the safety of epidemic prevention and control, it ensures the orderly passage of inbound and outbound transportation vehicles and smooth cross-border logistics transportation, which mainly includes three aspects:
1. For international shipping ships, foreign crew members are not allowed to log in in principle. Chinese crew members who have been sailing at sea for more than 14 days and whose health is normal and who have passed the entry quarantine are allowed to enter the country. For Chinese crew members who have been sailing at sea for less than 14 days, they must be isolated and observed in accordance with the epidemic prevention and control requirements of the port location after entering the country, and the 14-day period will be supplemented.
Second, for cross-border transportation cars and trains, focus on epidemic prevention and control in the inspection of transportation vehicles and drivers and passengers, cargo loading and other links. Foreign freight vehicles unload goods at designated locations at the port, and employees must leave the country on the same day. For Chinese freight drivers, filing management, body temperature monitoring and regular nucleic acid testing should be taken to effectively prevent the import of the epidemic.
3. Closed management is implemented for international flight crews. Crews who do not leave the limited areas of the port and need to continue to fly international routes will be exempted from border inspection procedures. At airports with conditions, the border inspection agency has set up special channels to conduct centralized inspections on crew members to reduce the chance and risk of cross-infection.
02 The current imported epidemic and the local epidemic are intertwined and superimposed. What measures will the National Health Commission take?
Faced with the current complex prevention and control situation, we must fully implement the overall prevention and control strategy of "preventing imports from outside and rebound from inside", adhere to the combination of emergency response and normalized prevention and control, grasp the key points, and implement policies accurately. Promote the comprehensive restoration of production and living order as soon as possible in normalized prevention and control.
First, we must increase epidemic prevention and control work in key border provinces. Guide border provinces to formulate targeted prevention and control plans, and achieve "one city, one policy". At the same time, we will increase the support and guarantee of border cities in terms of prevention and control personnel and materials, make emergency preparations for relevant laboratory testing, isolation and treatment, and speed up the filling of weak links in the entire prevention and control work.
Second, we must further strengthen the responsibilities of the local, department, unit and individual. We must further strengthen the prevention and control of key places, key units and key groups, and at the same time, we must accurately implement differentiated prevention and control measures in different regions and levels.
Third, we must continue to fully implement the "four early" measures of early detection, early reporting, early isolation and early treatment, and at the same time, we must continue to do a good job in community prevention and control. Improve the normalized prevention and control mechanism for timely discovery, rapid disposal, precise control and effective treatment. Once an epidemic is discovered, we must deal with it immediately and resolutely ensure that we discover and extinguish it.
Regarding the issue of nucleic acid testing, nucleic acid testing services have been provided to people in need in some capable areas. This work is conducive to the people's confirmation of their personal health status, and can dispel unnecessary doubts about their own health status. At the same time, it also allows our families and colleagues to rest assured. On the other hand, it is also conducive to the early restoration of production and living order and provide guarantees for the full resumption of work and production.
03 What measures have been taken to improve port quarantine and testing capabilities?
Port quarantine and testing capabilities are an important part of the core public health capabilities of the port and an important guarantee for effective prevention and control of the import of the epidemic. In accordance with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on “strengthening the construction of quarantine and testing capacity”, the General Administration of Customs has taken active and effective measures to strive to improve the core public health capabilities of key ports.
First, optimize and improve prevention and control strategies.Based on the diagnosis and treatment plan for the new coronavirus pneumonia formulated by the National Health Commission, the General Administration of Customs has revised and issued 6 versions of the port prevention and control technical plan and 3 versions of the operation guide, providing scientific, standardized, systematic and complete prevention and control guidance for the front line. At the same time, it dynamically adjusts the port sampling and inspection and laboratory testing operation guidelines, issues key points of port sampling work, refines the full process specifications of sampling places, sampling parts, sampling operations, personal protection, disinfection and other aspects, and continuously improves the ability of on-site emergency response and precise screening.
The second is to improve the port detection level. According to the national port facilities and equipment, testing capabilities, protective material reserve status and the development of overseas epidemics, the General Administration of Customs has equipped relevant key ports with key detection equipment and key protective materials through internal allocation and emergency procurement in the system, including nucleic acid extraction instruments, fluorescence quantitative PCR detectors, blood routine detection analyzers, negative pressure isolation units, etc. At the same time, 9 new biosafety secondary laboratories can be carried out for new coronavirus detection, and the number of detection technicians has also increased to more than 400. The software and hardware conditions for epidemic prevention and control at national ports have been further improved, and the nucleic acid testing capacity has basically met the testing needs of existing incoming personnel.
The third is to strengthen personnel training and guidance. The General Administration of Customs has dispatched technical experts from customs across the country, formed 12 guidance groups, and went to key ports to carry out on-site practical training, do a good job in targeted technical guidance, and guided the standardized operations of epidemiological investigations, sample collection and laboratory testing throughout the process. In addition, 200 technical backbone members were also dispatched from the national customs to support key ports to enrich the front-line quarantine control force. We have also organized and carried out special training on personal protection, laboratory testing and other special trainings at customs across the country, held online training demonstration classes for collection of epidemic prevention and control samples and personal protection live broadcasts, and compiled the "Epidemic Prevention and Control Knowledge Question Bank" to open practice to customs across the country. 36 online courses for special training on epidemic prevention and control have been launched, and 1.7 million people have completed online learning, continuously improving the practical level of front-line personnel.
Fourth, strengthen local joint prevention and control cooperation. During the epidemic prevention and control period, local governments and customs at all levels cooperated closely to strengthen port health quarantine. The relevant local governments have successively dispatched more than 800 professional and technical personnel to support 21 directly affiliated customs to do a good job in epidemiological investigations, nucleic acid sampling and testing; at the same time, they have also accelerated the transformation and upgrading of regional health quarantine facilities such as travel inspection sites and freight channels at key ports, and provided key protective materials such as medical protective masks and protective clothing to the front line of the port in a timely manner, effectively improving the health quarantine capabilities of key ports.
04 What achievements have been made since the implementation of the "first entry point" policy of Capital Airport? Before the implementation of the "first entry point" policy, Beijing Capital Airport, as an important international aviation hub in my country, had more than 200 international passenger flights per week, and was operated in 33 countries including the United States, France, Germany, Spain, South Korea, etc. The capital airport port also faced a very large risk of imported epidemics. In accordance with the unified deployment of the State Council's joint prevention and control mechanism, since the Capital Airport implemented the policy of international passenger flights through the first entry point on March 20, as of April 19, a total of 135 adjusted flights have been implemented, with a total of 29,999 inbound passengers at the first entry point, and 26,035 passengers were detained at the first entry point, with a retention rate of 87%, effectively controlling the continuous import of overseas epidemics into the capital Beijing, and improving the safety and health protection capabilities of international flight passengers and the entry clearance efficiency.
With the implementation of the "five ones" adjustment measures for international passenger flights on March 29, the "five ones" means that each airline operates only one route to any country in mainland China, and can only operate one flight per week. Since the implementation of this policy, there are a total of 89 international flights at Capital Airport entering the first entry point in April, with an average of 2-3 flights actually implemented every day, a significant reduction of 80% compared with before the implementation of the policy. The number of incoming flights per entry point per day shall not exceed one flight, and the pressure on the first entry point will be greatly alleviated. According to the current adjustment measures for international passenger flights, there will be 89 international flights entering the Capital Airport in May, with an average of 3 flights per day, and each entry point will still not exceed 1 flight per day.
With the continuous improvement of epidemic prevention inspection measures at each first entry point, the inspection capacity has been continuously improved, and the observation and isolation facilities of the detained passengers have entered a virtuous cycle. The current guarantee capacity of the airport at the first entry point can meet the current needs.
05 Do incoming personnel still need to be quarantined at home after the quarantine period of the first entry point expires?
For centralized medical observation personnel, in addition to normal living security, we have taken the following measures for their health and safety: First, we must reasonably allocate medical staff to fully implement health monitoring of isolated personnel, and at the same time equip necessary first aid equipment and medicines, and formulate corresponding disposal plans. For some people with underlying diseases, we have also prepared their commonly used drugs to meet their needs. Second, strictly strengthen the health and epidemic prevention requirements at isolation points, improve disinfection management, strengthen food safety management and medical waste treatment, and effectively reduce the risk of disease transmission. Third, the districts and counties where the centralized medical observation point are located have established a leading group for psychological counseling and social service, and designated a dedicated person to be responsible for coordination. Strengthen humanistic care and warm services for quarantined personnel and provide necessary psychological counseling services according to their needs.
Regarding the issue of quarantine of incoming personnel, according to current regulations, non-"four categories" personnel are subject to centralized medical isolation and observation for 14 days after entry in the province where the first entry point is located. After the quarantine period expires, there is no need to undergo quarantine medical observation. People who have undergone laboratory tests during the quarantine and meet the conditions for conversion to home medical observation must still undergo home medical observation in accordance with regulations after returning to their residence until they have passed 14 days.
06 How to strengthen supervision of illegal and irregular reselling of international air tickets?
With the accelerated spread of the global COVID-19 epidemic, the Civil Aviation Administration has introduced a reduction policy to reduce international passenger flights in accordance with the requirements of the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism. This is the “five one” policy just mentioned, which has played a good role in reducing the risk of imported epidemics. In recent times, we have also noticed that due to the greater market demand than supply, a few domestic and foreign sales agent companies have illegally rewrote and speculate by false seats and changing passenger names. Some air tickets have even been speculated to more than 100,000 yuan, which has attracted great attention in society and the Internet. In order to further strengthen the sales agency of international air tickets during the epidemic, ensure the smooth and orderly of the international air transportation market, and effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of passengers, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the "Notice on Further Clarifying Issues Related to International Air Ticket Sales during the Epidemic", requiring domestic airlines to suspend the international air ticket agency rights of each sales agency company from April 16. All international air tickets must be sold through direct sales channels, and the international freight policy must be strictly implemented to ensure openness and transparency and clearly marked prices.
For international air tickets that have been sold by agent companies before, the Civil Aviation Administration requires airlines to strictly implement their main responsibilities, strengthen the control of selling international air tickets, and strictly prohibit the ticket reversal or changing the passenger's name after booking and purchasing tickets, so as to eliminate ticket reversal and ticket speculation in the intermediate links. Here we also remind passengers to purchase air tickets through direct sales channels such as airlines' official websites, call centers, mobile APPs, etc., and keep relevant certificates to avoid being deceived. If prices are found to be illegal and irregular, passengers should promptly complain to relevant national departments. The Civil Aviation Administration will work with the market supervision department to seriously investigate and punish international freight violations in accordance with the law, and implement credit punishment in accordance with the "Civil Aviation Industry Credit Management Measures".
source: official website of the National Health Commission, China Network
