(Apr.9) New Regulations For Asymptomatic Carriers

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COVID-19 新冠肺炎时事

Till 4:00pm, April 9, 2020, the coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 209 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan). There are totally 1519,571 COVID-19 cases in the world and 88,550 people have died.

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New Regulations On The Management of Silent Coronavirus Carriers

China released new measures on last night to try and prevent asymptomatic “silent carriers” of coronavirus from causing a second wave of infections, as the country reported another modest rise in new confirmed cases.

▲ Image/South China Morning Post

The regulations specifying that the group are infectious and have risks of transmission, amid mounting public worries over whether lifting Wuhan's lockdown would cause a second outbreak due to mass population flows.

The regulations standardize the process of reporting silent carriers, requiring nationwide medical institutes to report within two hours via the internet after discovering any such case. County-level disease prevention and control authorities should complete investigations into each single case within 24 hours and record close contacts. Local medical institutes should also record the date they are discharged from medical observation in a timely manner.

The State Council also stipulates that for asymptomatic patients who have been released from medical observation, further medical observations and follow-ups shall continue for 14 days. They should also visit designated hospitals for follow-up re-examinations in the second and fourth weeks.

The newly unveiled policy, specially designated for tackling asymptomatic cases, aims to fend off risks of a rebound COVID-19 epidemic in China and avoid new large-scale infections caused by asymptomatic patients, Cai Jiangnan, director of the Center for Healthcare Management at the China Europe International Business School, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Asymptomatic patients are defined as those who display no clinical symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat but test positive for COVID-19 in the respiratory tract and through other specimens.

Asymptomatic patients will be quarantined collectively for 14 days and undergo two nucleic acid tests. If the nucleic acid test remains positive, isolated medical observation will be continued. Asymptomatic patients will be counted as confirmed cases once they start to show clinical symptoms and should be sent to designated hospitals for treatment. People who have had close contact with them are also required to be quarantined for 14 days.

The State Council also issued documents strengthening management of recovered and discharged patients. Designated hospitals should arrange a 2 to 4 week re-examination plan for discharged COVID-19 patients, focusing on re-examinations of blood routine, biochemical and oxygen saturation, re-examination of novel coronavirus pathogens, and priority is given to selecting sputum specimens with higher reliability, according to a document issued by the State Council.

If discharged patients re-test positive with clinical manifestations such as fever and cough, in addition with CT imaging showing that the lung lesions are aggravated, they would be classified as confirmed patients and transferred to a designated hospital as soon as possible for further treatment.

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China Restores 40% of Flights Amid Easing of Coronavirus Restrictions

China has restored 40% of its flights, according to state-run news agency Xinhua, as the country begins to unwind tight restrictions designed to stop the spread of novel coronavirus.

Xinhua said most of the flights are to areas in the northwest and southwest of the country where migrant workers are more concentrated, and industrial areas in the Yangtze River and Pear River Deltas.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China says an average of 6,533 civil aviation flights operated per day in March, an increase of 20.5% from February. As of April 1, 970 flights were arranged to get more than 59,000 workers back to their work locations.

International flights remain largely down as the country continues with heavy restrictions on travelers entering from overseas.

North Korea Has More Than 500 People in Quarantine -- But NO Confirmed Cases, WHO Says

▲ Health officials disinfect an office room amid concerns over the coronavirus at the Pyongchon District People's Hospital in Pyongyang on April 1. Kim Won Jin/AFP/Getty Images

North Korea has conducted over 700 tests for the COVID-19, while more than 500 people are in quarantine in the country as of April 2, the World Health Organization told CNN on Wednesday. But Pyongyang maintains there are still no confirmed cases of the virus in the country.

“As of 2 April, 709 people - 11 foreigners and 698 nationals - have been tested for (coronavirus). There is no report of (a positive) case. There are 509 people in quarantine – two foreigners and 507 nationals,” Dr. Edwin Salvador, the WHO Representative to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name, said in an email reply.

China Closes Land Border With Russia After Surge of Imported COVID-19 Cases

▲ New imported cases in the northern province of Heilongjiang surged, fueled by an influx of travelers arriving from Russia. Photo: VCG

China-Russia land border crossings were temporarily closed after a surge of imported cases of COVID-19, Chinese state-run CCTV reported Wednesday.

Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province which borders Russia, reported 87 imported cases of Covid-19 in the past few days, 84 of which came from Russia through its northeastern land border. Since Russia shut down international flights earlier this month, the land border between the Russian city of Vladivostok and the Chinese city of Suifenhe had become one of the few entry points for Chinese living in Russia to come home.

Imported infections have become a major threat for rekindling the virus in China after the epidemic began to ease in the country and lockdowns generally came to an end, including the 76-day isolation of China’s epicenter Wuhan. As of Tuesday, there were 1,045 imported cases reported in China from countries around the world, according to the National Health Commission.

Suifenhe implemented Wuhan-like lockdown measures starting Wednesday. All residential compounds will be under closed management, and only one member of a household is allowed to go out to buy necessities once every three days, authorities said. Suifenhe is a small county-level city with a population of 70,000.

All of the 84 imported cases in Heilongjiang are Chinese citizens. They first flew about nine hours from Moscow to Vladivostok and then took a bus for two hours to cross the Chinese border into Suifenhe. Upon arrival, they were quarantined at local hospitals or stadiums.

Suifenhe has been under tremendous pressure since the beginning of this month to screen a large influx of travelers from Russia. After an emergency meeting with Vladivostok authorities April 3, the Heilongjiang government decided to temporarily close a road entry passenger inspection channel in Suifenhe April 5, then reopen it the next day as the city exceeded its inspection and quarantine capacity. The inspection channel then closed again and will continue so through April 13 until further notice.

Latest From the World

Global infections: The number of coronavirus cases recorded around the world has now passed 1.5 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. At least 88,444 people have died from Covid-19 worldwide.

Hotter weather might not help: A prestigious scientific panel told the White House on Tuesday that it doesn't look like coronavirus will go away once the weather warms up -- despite President Donald Trump's claims that warmer weather will make the virus "miraculously" go away.

WHO under fire: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that it was not the time for a leadership change at the World Health Organization after a senior US administration official said the global health watchdog's leadership was a problem.

Empty hotel rooms: According to data from a hospitality analytics company, nearly 80% of US hotel rooms were empty last week.

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