Many epidemics were caused by mutant strains of Omicron, experts reminded not to “ah” when testing nucleic acids

The National Health and Medical Commission reported that from 0 to 24:00 on March 23, 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported 2,010 new local confirmed cases and 2,722 local asymptomatic infections.

Health Times has found that local clusters of new coronary pneumonia have occurred in many places in my country recently, mainly due to the mutant strain of Omicron. The new coronavirus Omicron variant has two major characteristics: on the one hand, it is highly infectious and spreads fast; on the other hand, a considerable number of people infected with the Omicron variant have no symptoms or no obvious symptoms. This kind of hidden infection more difficult to find.

On the evening of March 23, it was introduced at the press conference on the new crown epidemic in Dongguan, Guangdong. On March 22, Dongguan added 1 local confirmed case and 7 local asymptomatic infections. Zhongtang Town, Dongguan City For the first reported case in this round, the initial inspection by the Dongguan Center for Disease Control and Prevention is still the Omicron variant.

On March 23, at a press conference on the prevention and control of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic in Beijing, it was introduced that this round of new coronary pneumonia Omicron variant in Beijing was different from the previous delta variant, showing a speed of transmission. New features such as quickness, hidden infection, and one-person confirmed transmission to the whole family. Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted whole-genome sequencing of samples from infected persons 65 to 69, and the results showed that the virus belongs to the Omicron variant, which is different from the recently reported infected persons 49 and 54 in the city. The viruses to 59 are highly homologous.

On March 23, at a press conference on the prevention and control of the epidemic in Qingdao, Shandong, it was introduced that Qingdao’s traceability analysis through whole gene sequencing showed that since March, the local new coronary pneumonia epidemic in Qingdao has been caused by Omicron. Variant strains arise, but the evolutionary branch differs. Different transmission chains were found through field epidemiology, serological testing, nucleic acid testing and genome sequencing. For example, the outbreak in Laixi City is the evolutionary branch of the Omicron variant BA.1.1, and other different evolutionary branches of the Omicron variant were found in the current round of the epidemic in Qingdao.

On March 22, a press conference on the joint prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Fujian Province introduced that since March 13, Fujian Province has reported a total of 899 local confirmed cases and 549 local asymptomatic infections. example. Except for 4 cases in Xiamen that were associated with other provinces, the gene sequencing results of the cases in other cities were highly homologous to the sequences of the cases in Quanzhou, which belonged to the BA.2 branch of the Omicron variant strain.

On March 22, it was announced at a press conference on the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Tangshan City, Hebei Province that on March 21, the China CDC reported the sequencing results of the first 5 confirmed cases in our city. These five cases are all mutants of Omicron (BA.1.1), which are highly homologous to the genome of the new coronavirus that was popular in the United States, Britain and other countries in February.

Liu Lei, Director of Shenzhen National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases and Secretary of the Party Committee of Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital

Liu Lei, Director of the National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases and Secretary of the Party Committee of Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, reminded in an exclusive interview with Jing Daily on March 23 that 5 points should be paid attention to when doing nucleic acid: First, people with sensitive throats should do nucleic acid. Do not eat or drink water for the first two hours to prevent the test from stimulating vomiting; second, do not chew gum, eat betel nut, and do not drink alcohol before the nucleic acid test, which will affect the test results; third, the nucleic acid test queue must be kept at one meter Distance, especially do not take off the mask to chat; fourth, do not put mobile phones, keys, wallets, etc. with you on the testing table to prevent cross-infection; fifth, it is best not to say “ah” during nucleic acid testing, For some positive patients, aerosols and viruses will come out as soon as they “ah”. It is best not to “ah” when they open their mouths in the nucleic acid test. (Lu Yang)