Beijing: Unpredictable But No Need to Panic

Earlier on January 20, 2021, per Beijing CDC, based on the whole genome sequencing and analysis, the clustering epidemic in Daxing District is highly homologous with the novel coronavirus variant found in the UK, whose infectivity has increased by 40% to 70%. Here are four specific details of this round of outbreak.

No.1 One Confirmed Case Had Suspected Symptoms as Early as January 5, but Need More Evidence to Support

As of now, regarding the epidemiological information, one COVID-19 infected individual had fatigue, cough and other symptoms as early as January 5, then began taking his own medicine instead of seeking medical treatment. However, according to an expert of CDC, it is not yet  possible to determine that these above-mentioned symptoms were caused by the novel coronavirus. Obviously, more evidence such as antibodies are still needed.

Besides, antibodies are divided into two categories: IgG and IgM. Generally speaking, IgM began to be positive 3-5 days after the onset of the disease; while IgG is produced in 10-15 days after infection, which also proves that the virus has been spread for a quite long time.

NO. 2 Anal Swab Test Added to COVID-19 Detection Methods

On January 18, Beijing reported a 9-year-old asymptomatic infection, leading to 1,298 people in his school being tested for COVID-19 by nasopharyngeal swabs, oropharyngeal swabs, anal swabs and serum.

Per Liang Lianchun, an expert of infectious disease departments, there is a possibility of fecal-oral transmission of COVID-19. As most of the close contacts are children, whose positive swabs test could be lasted longer, even more than seven weeks.

No.3 Considering as a Clustering Outbreak Without Protective Measures

According to the Beijing CDC, the cluster epidemic in Daxing District involved confirmed cases, which spread among families, colleagues, neighbors and friends. Among them, someone didn't see a doctor in a timely manner after symptoms appeared, and traveled with illness. Even more, most of the elderly chatted with others without wearing a mask.

No.4 The Scale of the Outbreak Caused by the Mutant Strain Remains Unknown

As the first COVID-19 case has not yet been identified, if his/her symptoms were appeared in early January, then the virus could have spread secretly for a quite long time. Therefore, as for how big is the overall scale of the current outbreak in Beijing, it’s gonna take some time to answer that.

Anti-Epidemic Measures Taken Against the Mutant Strain

Furthermore, as to cope with the epidemic situation caused by the mutant strain, below are the specific measures taken by Beijing.

• Tiangongyuan Street in Daxing District is strictly managed in enclosed style, and everyone is banned from leaving;

   

• All the people who have been to Tiangongyuan Street in the past 14 days shall conduct a 14-day home-based quarantine ASAP;

   

• All residents in Dongcheng District and Xicheng District will carry out the nucleic acid test from January 22 to January 23;

   

• All the entry personnel arriving Beijing since December 10, 2020 will be tested for serum antibody;

   

• Strictly implement the "14 + 7 + 7" measures for entry personnel in Beijing, and find out the potential risk points of entry personnel and imported goods.

Shanghai: To be Under Control in a Few Weeks

Additionally, there were 9 newly diagnosed cases in Shanghai from January 21 to 22, in Huangpu and Baoshan District. Therefore, an emergency response was immediately launched in Shanghai. Here are the specific measures.

• Adjust the risk level of the residential area in Zhaotong Road (south of Fuzhou Road) in Huangpu District as medium-risk area;

   

• Nucleic acid testing shall be carried out in all hospitals in Shanghai;

   

• All residents in the medium-risk area are tested for COVID-19 and transferred to the hotel in batches for 14-day centralized quarantine.

According to Zhang Wenhong, the group director of COVID-19 treatment in Shanghai, the epidemic is expected to be completely controlled in the upcoming few weeks. All residents in the city can have a festive Spring Festival. However, it’s worth noticing that anyone who has a fever, should go to fever clinic ASAP.