Zhong Nanshan talks about mutant virus strains: the establishment of an immune barrier is imminent

Xinhua News Agency, Guangzhou, June 26, Wire Title: Zhong Nanshan talks about mutant virus strains: the establishment of an immune barrier is imminent

Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Pan, Ma Xiaocheng, Xu Hongyi

Zhong Nanshan, an academician of theChinese Academy of Engineering , said in an interview with reporters on the 25th that the Guangzhou epidemic is China’s first response to the community transmission of the new crown mutant delta strain that was first discovered in India.
It has achieved initial results, but other regions also need to advance.
Take precautions
.

Guangzhou has achieved phased results in fighting the epidemic

Zhong Nanshan said that from June 19 to June 24, Guangzhou has had no new domestic infections for 6 consecutive days.
In this round of the epidemic, Guangzhou has reported a total of 153 infections
.

He believes that Guangdong has several effective ways to deal with the epidemic this time
.

In addition, Guangdong has strengthened the management of close contacts this time
.

Zhong Nanshan said that in this epidemic, Guangzhou used big data to track, as long as people who have been to key areas and have contact with key groups are given yellow codes, the practice is more accurate
.

Zhong Nanshan said that in some places around the world, there have been reports of cases where the new crown virus was transmitted from human to animal, and then from animal to human
.

"These new methods, innovative and more targeted models have enabled us to control the epidemic relatively quickly
.

Delta strain is highly infectious

Zhong Nanshan said that from a global perspective, the delta strain is becoming a major threat.
Judging from the recent developments in the United Kingdom, Russia, Singapore and the United States, the number of people infected with the delta strain is rising rapidly
.

Zhong Nanshan said that since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, there have not been too many detailed reports on the spread of the Delta strain in the community and its characteristics
.

First, the viral load is high
.
Once the human body is infected with the Delta strain, the viral load in the body is higher than the previous ordinary strain
.
In medicine, the Ct value is usually used to measure the viral load.
The lower the Ct value, the higher the viral load
.
This time, more cases were observed with low Ct values ​​of infected persons
.

Second, the incubation period is short
.
During the Wuhan epidemic last year, the incubation period of the virus in the human body was about 3 to 7 days, but this time it was about 1 to 3 days
.
Although there are some individuals with a long incubation period, they are generally relatively low.
Most of them develop symptoms within 2 to 3 days, and some even develop within 24 hours
.

Third, it takes a long time for nucleic acid to turn negative
.
The patient was infected with a common virus strain, and the nucleic acid test turned negative after 7 to 9 days after treatment.
However, among the more than 100 patients in Guangdong this time, the average time to turn negative was 13 to 15 days, which was almost twice as high
.
Therefore, in the same time period after the outbreak, fewer patients were discharged than before
.

"Delta strain has a high viral load in the body and a short incubation period, which makes it highly infectious, twice as infectious as ordinary virus strains
.
" Zhong Nanshan said
.

Establishing an immune barrier is imminent

Zhong Nanshan said that the world is now facing the delta strain epidemic, which will further damage the global economic development
.
On the one hand, epidemic prevention and control must be done well, on the other hand, the economy must continue to develop.
There must be a high degree of balance between the two aspects
.

Zhong Nanshan said that in order to establish a new balance, in addition to strictly complying with the measures of group prevention and control, it is also necessary to promote vaccination as soon as possible to establish an immune barrier for the population
.
From the results of Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom, it seems that the infection rate has been significantly reduced after vaccination, so the establishment of an immune barrier is imminent
.

Zhong Nanshan said that from laboratory results, the vaccine's ability to neutralize mutant strains has declined, but it still has a protective effect
.
From the preliminary analysis of more than 100 patients in Guangdong, the vaccination has certain effects in preventing the development of pneumonia and the development of severe illness
.

"These data are not necessarily accurate, because the amount of data is not large, but it shows a problem.
Regardless of the laboratory results and real-world observations, the Chinese-made vaccine is still effective against the Delta strain, and everyone should fight it
.
"Zhong Nanshan said
.

According to data released by the National Health Commission, as of June 24, 2021, 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have reported a total of 1,120,643 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine
.

"If it is estimated that the protection rate of the vaccine is about 70%, our country needs 80% or more of the people to be vaccinated before it is possible to build an immune barrier, so we need to strengthen vaccination
.
" Zhong Nanshan said
.