Temporary population immunization has been established in Beijing, and the risk of a new crown epidemic in the near future is low

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Wang Quanyi, deputy director of the CDC, said on January 31 that the city has established temporary population immunization and there is little risk of an epidemic of new coronavirus infection in the near future. He reminded: the elderly over 80 years old can take advantage of this “window period” in time to receive the new crown vaccine.

The city is at the end of the current outbreak

According to the sampling and monitoring data of influenza-like cases, in the fourth week of this year (January 23-29), the number of influenza-like cases in the cumulative number of outpatient and emergency visits to medical institutions above the second level in the city dropped 40.87% compared with the previous week, 84.53% compared with the same period last year, and 93.74% compared with the peak of the current epidemic season. The city collected and tested a total of 453 respiratory specimens of influenza-like cases, of which 23 were positive for nucleic acid of the new coronavirus, a positive rate of 5.08% (compared to 11.59% the week before).

“After the peak has passed, the population has established temporary immune protection, plus there is some cross-protection between the current international epidemic virus and the strains circulating in the city this round, so there is less risk of an epidemic in the near future, at least for three months.” Wang Quanyi said that the city is now at the end of the current round and is in a state of case dissemination, with the main circulating strains remaining BF.7 and BA.5.2. Although the end of the Chinese New Year crowds are concentrating on returning to Beijing, the peak of the national epidemic has passed, so it will not have a major impact. He reminded the elderly and other people at high risk of serious illness to get vaccinated in time and do their daily protection.

The city will carry out a population serum antibody survey

Wang Qianyi revealed that the city will soon conduct a population serum antibody survey in order to comprehensively assess the situation of the new coronavirus infection and to understand the serum antibody level in the community. The survey is scheduled to be completed from February to March this year, and a multi-stage stratified random sampling method will be used to select about 5,000 community members from 16 jurisdictions and the Economic Development Zone to conduct questionnaires and serological specimen collection. The content of the questionnaire included information on basic information of the survey population, nucleic acid and antigen testing, morbidity consultation referral, and vaccination status. The study will provide a reference for optimal resource allocation and prevention and control of new crowns.

Considering that antibody levels also decline naturally over time, the city may conduct dynamic assessments in the future as needed.

Viral mutation surveillance covers inbound and native populations

“Risk assessment is the next key work to be carried out by the CDC.” Wang Quanyi said the CDC will monitor the virus mutation on the one hand and the epidemic intensity on the other.

The monitoring of virus mutation covers both inbound and local populations, and the CDC department is working with multiple departments, including customs and medical institutions, to conduct nucleic acid testing and virus gene sequencing. “For example, for inbound surveillance, customs will perform antigen and nucleic acid testing on people with fever and respiratory symptoms, and samples found to be positive for new crown and with a Ct value less than 32 will be sent to CDC for gene sequencing. For those who are in the incubation period at the time of entry, medical personnel will ask about the past 7 days of entry history during medical consultation, and if the sample is positive and meets the sequencing requirements, it will also be sent to CDC. This data will help professionals keep track of virus mutation and importation.”

Monitoring the epidemic intensity will then be done in conjunction with the city’s existing influenza-like case surveillance system. The city’s hospitals above the first level report influenza-like cases, and 39 hospitals currently conduct pathogenic surveillance, Wang Quanyi said. Surveillance data from the clinic can be calculated by relevant models to invert the number of infections and epidemic intensity at the social level. Combined with dynamic community surveys, network surveys and other multi-channel data to corroborate each other, it is easy for CDC to provide epidemic warning and medical institutions to respond.