Can we have gatherings during the Chinese New Year? Here comes the authoritative response

The National Health Commission released answers to questions about the service guarantee policy for celebrating the New Year at home on the 7th. Specific questions include↓↓

According to the "Winter and Spring Rural Area COVID-19 Prevention and Control Work Plan", "returnees refer to people returning to rural areas from other places." How to define "rural areas"? Does the county town belong to rural areas?

Answer: The returnees referred to in the "Work Plan for the Prevention and Control of the New Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic in Rural Areas in Winter and Spring" are mainly all people returning to rural areas across provinces and key groups such as imported cold chain food workers, port workers directly in contact with imported goods, isolation facility staff, and transportation workers within the province returning to rural areas across cities. In principle, the specific scope of rural areas will be determined by local governments based on local actual conditions and in combination with national policies.

During the Spring Festival, do people returning to cities across provinces from low-risk areas have to hold nucleic acid test certificates?

Answer: According to the relevant provisions of the "Notice on orderly conducting nucleic acid testing for people's travel during the Spring Festival" and other epidemic prevention and control documents issued by the Comprehensive Group of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, key groups such as imported cold chain food workers in low-risk areas, workers who directly contact imported goods at ports, staff in isolation facilities, and transportation workers who travel across provinces and cities, as well as returnees to rural areas across provinces, must hold a negative nucleic acid test result for the new coronavirus valid within 7 days; other people in low-risk areas must travel with a "green code" for health pass and move in an orderly manner on the premise that their body temperature is normal and they have taken good personal protection measures.

According to the "Winter and Spring Rural Areas COVID-19 Prevention and Control Work Plan", "People returning home with a negative nucleic acid test certificate need to undergo 14 days of home health monitoring", but the Spring Festival holiday is less than 14 days, how to solve it? After the Spring Festival holiday, do you need to follow the relevant prevention and control requirements for returning home?

Answer: The requirements of the "Winter and Spring Rural Area COVID-19 Prevention and Control Work Plan" for returning home with a negative nucleic acid test certificate and 14-day home health monitoring after returning home will be implemented from January 28, when the Spring Festival travel season begins, to March 8, when the Spring Festival travel season ends. If you have been back home for less than 14 days, the home health monitoring and nucleic acid testing requirements will be implemented based on the actual time of your return. When returning after the Spring Festival holiday, it is necessary to comprehensively judge the epidemic prevention and control situation and epidemic risk level of the place and destination, and follow the epidemic prevention and control requirements of the destination.

During the Spring Festival, are family and friends allowed to gather together? Are there any clear restrictions on the number of people or related requirements?

Answer: According to the requirements of relevant documents and plans on epidemic prevention and control such as the Notice of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council for Response to the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic on Further Improving the Current Prevention and Control of the New Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic, the flow of people and crowds should be reduced as much as possible during the Spring Festival. Enterprises and institutions should control the number of people when holding meetings, gatherings and other activities. Activities with more than 50 people should formulate prevention and control plans and strictly implement relevant prevention and control measures; it is recommended that family private gatherings and meals be controlled to less than 10 people, and personal protection should be done well. If you have symptoms such as influenza, try not to participate. For rural areas, it is required that residents' families do not hold gatherings and other gatherings, publicize and advocate changing customs, persuade farmers not to visit, not to gather, and go out less, and advocate "postponing weddings, simplifying funerals, and not holding banquets." For activities that really need to be held, the scale should be controlled below 50 people and there should be a prevention and control plan, and the activities should be reported to the local epidemic prevention and control headquarters for approval. The village committee is responsible for supervising the registration of basic information of participants and strictly implementing prevention and control measures.

Truck drivers are on the road all year round and are not eligible to spend the New Year at home, but they face the pain point of having difficulty returning home. Could you clarify the return policy for special groups such as truck drivers?

Answer: In accordance with relevant regulations on epidemic prevention and control, transportation employees returning home across provinces and cities must hold a negative nucleic acid test result for the new coronavirus valid within 7 days.

The demand for nucleic acid testing for people returning home during the Spring Festival travel rush increases. Are there corresponding safeguards to avoid the risk of cross-infection during the testing process?

A: During the epidemic prevention and control process, the National Health Commission has always guided the public to emphasize personal protection measures, such as wearing masks correctly, washing hands frequently, and maintaining a safe social distance. Returnees who need to undergo nucleic acid testing can go to medical institutions for sampling and take personal protection during the sampling process. Our Commission has repeatedly required medical institutions to minimize cross-infection by making appointments for sampling, setting intervals for sampling, and implementing standard preventive measures such as strengthening ventilation and environmental cleaning and disinfection.

More science:

Do you get the essential tricks for buying New Year's goods?

New Year's Eve is just a few days away. Have you prepared all your New Year's goods? Whether it's online "flash sales" or offline concentrated "shopping", before you start shopping, stock up on some "must-have tricks"!

Essential trick 1

Don’t rush to buy online, disinfect the courier first. Although buying New Year’s goods online saves time and effort, you can’t be “willful”. First of all, try to avoid buying foreign food of unknown origin through purchasing agents, overseas shopping, etc.

Secondly, don't be too impatient when receiving New Year's goods express delivery. You may wish to use a smart express receiving box, wear a mask when picking up the express, and it is best to wear disposable gloves to avoid direct contact with the outer packaging of the express with your hands. After picking up the express, you can throw the outer packaging bag directly into the trash can. Before bringing the packaging inside into the house, you can put it in a ventilated place and spray it with 75% medical alcohol or 500 mg/L chlorine-containing disinfectant. If you are not in a hurry to use the purchased items, you can let it "cool down" first - it will be safer to leave it in a ventilated place for a day or two before opening it.

Essential trick 2

Supermarket "shopping spree" gets straight to the point and makes quick decisions

Compared to the simple act of online shopping, many people prefer the infinite joy of shopping in supermarkets. Before you go, please remember: be fully equipped and act quickly.

First, it is recommended that you choose regular supermarkets with better prevention and control measures. For example, you can observe whether the supermarkets implement ventilation, personnel diversion, health monitoring, and whether the supermarket’s public supplies, facilities and areas are fully disinfected.

Second, you should wear a mask correctly before going out, and make sure the mask is airtight before leaving. The supermarket environment is relatively closed, and wearing a mask is the best protective measure to prevent the spread of droplets. In addition to masks, you can also use portable hand-free disinfectant and disinfectant wipes to keep your hands clean.

Third, when shopping, do not touch food directly with your hands. You can put the shopping bag on your hand to shop. It is not recommended to taste unheated food directly. When buying raw and cold food such as meat and seafood, pack them separately from fruits, vegetables, cooked food, etc. Try to avoid touching public items and do not touch your face, eyes, mouth, and nose with your hands.

Finally, when shopping, try to avoid peak hours, stock up on food for a few days or a week at a time, and reduce the number of visits to the supermarket. Being surrounded by all kinds of goods often makes people overwhelmed, so it is best to make a shopping list in advance, get straight to the point, and make quick decisions. It is best to stay in the supermarket for less than half an hour.

Essential trick three

Go to the vegetable market with full equipment and purchase during off-peak hours

The vegetable market is also a place where people often go to buy New Year's goods. Before entering the vegetable market, you must wear a mask correctly to cover your mouth and nose. When buying vegetables, keep a distance of more than 1 meter from others. Both customers and merchants must wear masks correctly and avoid chatting. Do not touch the outside of the mask with your hands, and do not pull down the mask to talk or eat.

It is recommended that people shop at different times, change the habit of buying groceries early in the morning, and avoid crowds. People can bring their own shopping bags, which is both environmentally friendly and reduces the channels of contact transmission. When buying meat and raw poultry, the stall owner should wear gloves to pick up the meat and raw poultry for customers to choose, and citizens should not touch them directly with their hands.

Essential trick four

The correct way to store and clean fruits and vegetables before making a "big meal" First, put the fruits and vegetables you bought under running water, and rub them with your hands to wash away the dust and dirt on the surface of the food. Second, soak them in light salt water for about 10 minutes, or use fruit and vegetable detergent to wash them. Finally, wash them again with running water. Some fruits can be scalded with boiling water and then peeled and eaten. Vegetables should not be eaten raw or cold.

Don't be too "aggressive" when washing meat. Don't wash meat under running water. It is recommended to prepare a basin specifically for washing meat, add water and then some flour (or cornstarch), put the meat in and rub it carefully, so that the dirt can be rubbed off by the adhering flour. Then, wash it several times with clean water.

Find a home for frozen and chilled food If frozen and chilled food needs to be stored in the freezer of the refrigerator, it should be stored separately from cooked food. When cooking and eating frozen and chilled food, it should be cooked thoroughly. Try to avoid eating seafood raw, half-cooked, soaked in wine or salted.

Source: Healthy China, National Health Commission website