Unexpectedly, the epidemic did not gradually disappear as people imagined. Instead, as the virus continued to mutate, the speed of transmission continued to accelerate, and the transmission chain became increasingly complex, the development of the epidemic was complicated and con

Unswerving prevention and control strategy

——Forty-four Reviews of the Fight against the New Crown Epidemic

Li Jun/Text

2022 is the third year since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic. Unexpectedly, the epidemic did not gradually disappear as people imagined. Instead, as the virus continued to mutate, the speed of transmission continued to accelerate, and the transmission chain became increasingly complex, the development of the epidemic was complicated and confusing.

As the weather turns from autumn to winter, viruses quickly begin to conquer the city. Since October, new local infection cases across the country have affected 31 provinces and cities. The number of new cases per day continues to rise, sparking a prairie fire everywhere. From October 10 to 12, "People's Daily" published articles for three consecutive days, warning all parts of the country that "it is not advisable to stay flat" and "it is impossible to win" and that "dynamic zeroing is sustainable and must be persisted", and encouraged the general public to "enhance confidence and patience in the current epidemic prevention and control policies."

clear or lie flat? The country’s attitude is very clear and its will is unswerving!

At the critical moment of epidemic prevention and control, the "People's Daily" shouted loudly, releasing at least three signals: first, the confidence in prevention and control has been shaken; second, the noise of lying down is rampant; third, the strategy of clearing the country is unswerving. On October 13, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council held a press conference, further emphasizing that the global epidemic is still at a high level, and that we must unswervingly adhere to the general policy of "dynamically clearing " and the general strategy of "preventing foreign imports and domestic rebounds", strictly implement the "four party responsibilities" of jurisdictions, departments, units, and individuals, control the epidemic quickly, block the spread of the epidemic, and firmly hold the bottom line of preventing large-scale epidemics.

Due to the sudden increase in the mobility of people during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, epidemics broke out across the country. The situation of local clusters of epidemics with "multiple spots, wide coverage, and frequent outbreaks" made the prevention and control situation more severe and complex.

Xinjiang: After nearly 100,000 tourists from outside Xinjiang were stranded in 15 5A scenic spots, and 20 counties and cities in Ili, Urumqi, Aksu, Hash, Turpan and other places "circuited" inter-provincial travel, the epidemic rebounded just after it improved. The number of infections every day exceeds three digits, and there are as many as 522 high-risk areas in Lumqi.

Gansu: Long known as the "Lanzhou King" with zero confirmed cases and zero new cases of the new coronavirus, confirmed cases continue to appear in Lanzhou. The epidemic is getting worse and worse, and schools in many places have been forced to suspend classes. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, where a large-scale cross-infection occurred among more than 11,300 teachers and students in the school, became the center of the storm. Students and teachers were blocked in the school, and no one was allowed to enter or leave freely. According to Zhang Yuan, editor-in-chief of the Chinese Culture Publishing House, at least more than 2,500 people in the school have been infected.

Inner Mongolia: After the number of new local confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections reached a peak of 119 and 559 respectively in early October, the number of new confirmed cases per day has hovered around 50 for a week. By October 15, the cumulative number of local confirmed cases quickly reached 918, and there were 3,963 local asymptomatic infections.

As of October 25, 2022, there are 2,367 high-risk areas and 1,580 medium-risk areas across the country.

In the face of a severe and complex epidemic, the National Health Commission and the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, on the basis of strengthening the overall coordination and guidance of epidemic prevention and control work around the National Day, dispatched special working groups to Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Yunnan, Shanxi, Tibet and other places to strengthen epidemic prevention and control forces, consolidate the responsibilities of all parties, continue to strengthen epidemic prevention, control and response, and resolutely maintain the bottom line of no large-scale epidemic.

However, the epidemic situation has not developed in the direction we expected. With some relief in some areas, a more transmissible Omicron mutant strain BF.7 has quietly arrived and quickly swept across the country. WHO warns that compared with the BA.5 variant that has been popular around the world, BF.7 has a stronger immune evasion ability, a shorter incubation period, and a faster transmission speed. It is currently the most contagious new coronavirus in the Omicron family in China, so it is more difficult to prevent and control, and may become the global mainstream strain this winter!

The cold has become severe and the frost is getting thicker. It is the active season of the new coronavirus, and the Omicron mutant strain is sweeping across the north, south, west and east. Since November, the number of -positive infections has increased exponentially in Guangdong, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Chongqing, Beijing and other places.According to the daily epidemic information summary compiled by the National Health Commission, a total of 78,435 new locally confirmed cases and 662,870 new asymptomatic infections were reported across the country in November, far exceeding the total number of confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections in the three years since the COVID-19 outbreak.

In the same month, the total number of close contacts tracked by the government and the total number of close contacts under medical observation increased by 66% and 247% respectively compared with all previous months combined.

Amid the turbulent waves of the global epidemic running at a high level and multiple domestic epidemic outbreaks, Guangzhou, one and a half years after the outbreak in May 2021, has once again been pushed to the forefront...