Many places have adjusted their epidemic prevention measures. Masks need to be worn in these 4 situations

Recently, new local cases have appeared in Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Sichuan, Xinjiang, etc. As of 15:00 on December 20, 14 areas in the country have been designated as medium-risk areas.

List of medium and high-risk epidemic areas across the country. Source: State Council Client

Areas where local epidemics have reappeared have stepped up epidemic prevention and control efforts by restricting residents from medium- and high-risk areas from going out, conducting comprehensive inspections of crowded places, and adjusting the winter vacation schedule for primary and secondary schools. Other areas have also actively adjusted their epidemic prevention measures, conducted inspections and nucleic acid tests on people with a history of travel to medium- and high-risk areas, and raised residents' safety awareness to prevent problems before they occur.

Strictly control the gathering and movement of people in medium and high-risk areas

At noon on December 20, Dalian, Liaoning held a press conference on epidemic prevention and control. Zhao Lian, deputy director of the Dalian Municipal Health Commission, said that medical institutions of all levels and types in Dalian have entered a wartime state of epidemic prevention and control, strengthening pre-examination and triage management with the highest standards and exercising the strictest control over personnel entering medical institutions.

In the early morning of the 21st, Dalian issued the "Notice on the Implementation of Relevant Measures to Further Strengthen the Prevention and Control Work in Jinpu New District", requiring residents of the five streets of Youyi, Xianjin, Yongzheng, Guangzhong and Zhanqian to avoid going out unless there are special circumstances, and non-essential staff not to go to work; residents in the five street communities must not leave the control area when going out to buy daily necessities, and are restricted from leaving the community; all public places in the five streets are closed; primary and secondary schools and kindergartens in the five street areas are suspended, and all teachers and students must not leave the control area; residents in the above-mentioned areas should not leave Jinpu New District in the near future unless there are special circumstances.

Medical staff at the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University worked overnight to conduct nucleic acid testing. Photo courtesy of the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University

Suifenhe and Dongning in Heilongjiang also quickly deployed relevant prevention and control work in accordance with the requirements of the wartime state, and made detailed management of traffic control, community management, campus and entertainment venues, and activities of people's livelihood medical institutions, strictly controlling the entry and exit of personnel, reducing the gathering of people, and preventing the spread of the epidemic in the two places. The Harbin Municipal Education Bureau adjusted the winter vacation time for primary and secondary schools, requiring primary and junior high school non-graduation grades to complete the teaching tasks and final exams of this semester before New Year's Day, and students will have winter vacation from January 1, 2021; junior high school graduation grades and ordinary high school grades will have winter vacation from January 16; primary and secondary schools (kindergartens) will start school on March 1, 2021. If there are new requirements from the epidemic prevention and control department or the higher-level education administrative department, the winter vacation time and the start time of the new semester will be adjusted in a timely manner.

Beijing has further improved its epidemic prevention work in key places and for practitioners in key industries, including strictly implementing the "14+7" medical observation for inbound personnel; conducting a comprehensive inspection of the prevention and control of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic at construction sites of housing and municipal infrastructure projects; conducting full coverage inspections of places where people gather, such as theaters, Internet cafes, KTVs, and hot tourist attractions; and guiding more than 130 cinemas to standardize epidemic prevention measures and strictly require audiences to wear masks.

Some netizens reported that the words "Beijing" on the communication big data itinerary card have been marked in red. Will the travel of Beijing citizens be affected in the near future? According to the official WeChat account of the communication itinerary card, from 0:00 on November 10, 2020, the itinerary card will mark the names of cities and prefectures containing medium and high-risk areas in red. This is only a travel reminder and is not related to health conditions. Specific control policies must follow the joint prevention and control mechanism of various places.

On December 17, the Sichuan Provincial Health Commission issued the "Notice on Further Improving the Fever Sentinel System and Standardized Operation of Medical and Health Institutions" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), requiring the comprehensive rationalization of the fever "sentinel" system and layout of medical and health institutions, and that all medical institutions at all levels in all regions must set up fever "sentinel". The "Notice" clearly defines the standards for setting up fever clinics: a relatively independent area must be set up in the house, with an actual physical isolation barrier from ordinary outpatient (emergency) clinics to avoid cross-talk between fever patients and other patients.

Working scene of the nucleic acid testing emergency laboratory. Photo provided by Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital

"At present, the provincial hospital's nucleic acid testing capacity and speed have been greatly improved. According to the principle of hierarchical management, the test results for patients with fever and critical illness have been shortened from the previous 4 hours to the fastest 2 hours. The results for other routine, inpatient, and emergency patients range from the same day to 3 hours, which is much shorter than before." According to Jiang Li, director of the Clinical Laboratory Center of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, since the local confirmed cases of new coronavirus pneumonia appeared in Pidu District, Chengdu, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital responded quickly and immediately entered a wartime state. All departments cooperated with the hospital's emergency fever clinic to quickly establish an independent emergency laboratory that operates 24 hours a day to ensure that patients in the fever clinic and emergency critically ill patients can complete the new coronavirus nucleic acid and antibody testing within 2 hours at the fastest.

Many places have strengthened prevention and control, testing nucleic acid for people from medium and high-risk areas

In order to reduce the risk of imported and spread of the epidemic, many places recently issued notices requiring strengthening of epidemic prevention and control, and conducting nucleic acid tests on people from medium- and high-risk areas.

Shanxi requires that people coming to (or returning to) Shanxi who have traveled to medium- and high-risk areas within 14 days must report to their village (community) and unit (hotel) as soon as possible and cooperate with local epidemic investigation and nucleic acid testing. Anyone who holds a negative nucleic acid test certificate within 7 days must conduct self-health monitoring at home (hotel) for 7 days while taking good personal protection.

Jiangxi requires that people who have traveled to Chaoyang District, Beijing after December 12 must proactively report to the community and undergo at least one COVID-19 nucleic acid test. From December 19, people coming to Jiangxi from Chaoyang District, Beijing, or people coming to Jiangxi whose activity tracks overlap with those of patients announced by Beijing, must hold a negative nucleic acid test certificate within seven days before entering Jiangxi. After arriving at their destination, they can move freely and orderly on the premise that their temperature is normal and they have taken good personal protection measures.

In order to strengthen the school's ability to handle the sudden incident of the COVID-19 epidemic and enhance the epidemic prevention awareness of teachers and students, the Education and Sports Bureau of Sanhe City, Hebei Province, organized 57 primary and secondary schools including the Vocational Education Center, No. 3 Middle School, No. 4 Middle School, and No. 6 Middle School to carry out an emergency drill for the prevention and control of COVID-19 at Sanhe No. 1 Middle School at 9:00 am on December 18. The drill strictly followed the campus epidemic prevention and control process, simulating the entire work process from morning, noon, and evening inspections, finding abnormal body temperature, entering the isolation room, re-examination, reporting, launching the disposal plan, to the position of each functional group.

"At present, the prevention and control of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has reached the 'three-phase overlap' period of new virus activity, overlapping prevention of humans and animals, and fatigue of cadres and workers." Guo Yufen, director of the Gansu Provincial Health Commission, said that health departments at all levels in the province should give full play to the sentinel role of fever clinics in medical institutions, strengthen hospital infection prevention and control, and increase training for medical staff, epidemic investigation teams, and nucleic acid testing teams. Medical and health institutions should ensure sufficient supply of epidemic prevention materials for one month; expand the scope and frequency of sampling and testing, and relevant practitioners should be tested once every 7 days. Stored imported cold chain foods shall not be released without testing.

Reminder: Wear a mask in 4 situations

On the afternoon of December 20, Beijing held the 189th COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control press conference. Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reminded that Beijing is in the peak season for infectious diseases in winter and spring. Key places such as supermarkets, catering units, hotels, farmers' markets, airports, railway stations, long-distance bus stations and theaters must strictly implement measures such as wearing masks, temperature measurement and code verification, ventilation and disinfection, and maintaining social distance. Employees in key industries such as cold chain, express delivery, taxis (online car-hailing), public transportation, and medical and health care must wear masks. At the same time, citizens are reminded to carry masks with them when going out, and masks must be worn in 4 scenarios (see the figure below for details).

Beijing issues reminders on epidemic prevention and control during the two festivals. Source: People's Daily official microblog

The Harbin Center for Disease Control and Prevention also issued a reminder, requiring citizens to wear masks in the following situations:

1. Wear a mask in time when you are unable to determine the risk;

2. People who are exposed to high risks, such as those engaged in medical and health care, public services, etc., should wear masks correctly;

3. People who go to the hospital for treatment, accompany and visit patients, have fever or respiratory infections, come into contact with other people, and go out must wear masks;

4. Wear a mask when in close contact with others within 1 meter, taking public transportation, elevators, and going to crowded places such as shopping malls and supermarkets;

5. Elderly and weak people, as well as those with chronic diseases, are advised to wear masks when going out. (Xu Mingyue, Yu Xinyi, Bao Congying, Na Qizhuo, Wang Swen, Yuan Hanling, Zhu Hong, Wang Wenjia)

Appendix: Tips for winter epidemic prevention and control