Joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council: multi-stakeholder approach to reduce the risk of spring epidemic transmission

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The joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council held a press conference on January 19 on the prevention and control of the epidemic during the Spring Festival. Zhou Min, deputy director of the emergency office of the Ministry of Transport, said that this year’s Spring Festival is the first one after the new phase of epidemic prevention and control, the passenger flow has rebounded significantly, and has now entered the peak passenger flow before the Spring Festival, in general, the national railroad, highway, waterway and civil aviation operation remains stable, with sufficient capacity allocation and orderly service. In order to reduce the risk of epidemic transmission, the transportation department has formulated a work plan, issued a guide for prevention and control, and deployed around the Spring Festival epidemic prevention and control work from multiple sources.

Smooth the “last mile” of travel for people returning to their hometowns

The data provided by the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism Spring Festival Work Task Force shows that as of January 18, the country’s railroads, roads, waterways and civil aviation have sent 480 million passengers, down 47.3% compared with the same period in 2019, but up 47.1% compared with the same period in 2022. Zhou Min said that in order to meet the travel needs of the masses and reduce the risk of epidemic transmission on the way back home, the transport sector has done a good job in the following four aspects of epidemic prevention and control.

First, strengthen the disinfection and ventilation of yards and transportation vehicles. Daily disinfection and ventilation of key areas, facilities and equipment in daily contact with passengers and employees, transport in transit and after each trip to the end of transport, the conditions to open the windows for ventilation;.

Second, strengthen the management of epidemic protection for practitioners. Front-line employees need to strictly wear masks during the shift, hand hygiene, to do the vaccine booster “should receive”, daily health monitoring, such as fever and other symptoms, the first time to stop work, to recover before going back to work;.

Third, all-round optimization of transport organization services. By increasing the capacity, increase the frequency of transport, strengthen the urban-rural linkage and other ways to improve transport services and security capacity, smooth the return to the hometown to the masses travel “the last mile”. According to the need to actively open custom passenger transport, night bus, ferry bus and other convenient lines. Actively promote contactless ticketing and ticketing services, guiding passengers to queue in an orderly manner, disperse waiting for rides and reduce the gathering.

Fourth, actively carry out public travel publicity guidance. Actively use television, radio, the network and the Spring Festival service window to strengthen publicity, release travel information, guide the public to travel rationally, staggered travel; remind passengers to wear masks throughout the journey in and out of passenger stations and public transport, adhere to diligent hand washing, maintain social distance, and strengthen personal health monitoring, avoid taking symptoms in transportation, and do a good job of personal protection during the journey.

Focus on strengthening epidemic prevention services in highway service areas and other places

Zhou Min introduced, taking into account the epidemic situation this year, coupled with the concentrated release of travel demand for New Year’s Eve, visiting friends and relatives, tourism and sightseeing, it is predicted that this year, self-drive travel will account for the mainstream, accounting for about 60% of various modes of travel. From the actual operation of the Spring Festival since its launch on January 7, the proportion of highway minibus traffic to the total traffic flow, from 76% at the start of the Spring Festival on January 7, continued to rise to 88% on January 18. By January 18, the cumulative national highway minibus traffic reached 320 million vehicles, an increase of 12.7% over the same period in 2022 and 11.8% over the same period in 2019.

To ensure that the public safe, healthy, convenient and comfortable travel, the transport sector for the high flow of passengers, many people, high density of highway service areas and other places, focusing on strengthening two aspects of work:.

First, continue to implement ventilation and disinfection and personal protection measures. Do a good job of daily public health management of highway service areas, environmental cleaning and disinfection and ventilation, in principle, during the Spring Festival disinfection at least once a day, ventilation at least 2 times, the Spring Festival will also be appropriate to increase the frequency of disinfection and ventilation; strengthen the health monitoring and personal protection of front-line workers; strengthen the epidemic prevention publicity, the drivers and passengers entering the service area to remind them to wear the correct mask, maintain social distance, good hand Establish a sound system of rotation and preparation for key positions to ensure the normal operation of the service area.

Second, to strengthen the assistance of sick people. In the service area with conditions to open a special area to provide services for drivers and passengers infected with the new crown virus or unwell. At the same time, strengthen the coordination with the neighboring medical institutions, improve the emergency plan, arrange for emergency needs of drivers and passengers to receive timely medical assistance.