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#15,497
While we've gotten isolated reports of COVID-19 cases this past summer out of China (see Beijing: 21 New COVID Cases Linked to Xinfadi Market), Chinese public health officials continue to pull out all the stops to quash outbreaks in their tracks, often resorting to strict lockdowns and mass testing.
News, particularly bad news, is tightly controlled by China's government, and so we can never be entirely sure how complete the information we get really is. That said, China appears to have avoided significant community spread of COVID-19 since last spring.
This apparent `success' against the virus has come at a high cost to their economy and to individual freedoms, and their methods would be difficult or impossible to implement in very many places outside of China. Whether this approach can continue to work as winter sets in is unknown.
Overnight FluTrackers has picked up reports of a hospital cluster in Qingdao, China - a major sub-provincial city in eastern Shandong province - where 2 asymptomatic cases were reported in late September.
This comes just days after the end of the "National Day Golden Week" (Oct 1st-7th, 2020), which - like Chunyun (Chinese New Year's) in the spring - is a time of heightened travel. Qingdao, reportedly received more than 4 million visitors over this week-long holiday.
All of which makes the announcement (below) from the Qingdao Health Commission all the more problematic.
Announcement on the situation of new coronavirus pneumonia in our city
2020-10-12
On October 11, 2020, after 3 cases of asymptomatic infection of new coronary pneumonia were found in our city, we immediately organized a large-scale investigation and classified testing, and focused close contacts and relevant personnel of the city chest hospital as high-risk groups monitor. A total of 377 close contacts and all patients and accompanying persons in the Municipal Chest Hospital were investigated.
Among them, 9 newly-added nucleic acid test results were positive, including 8 in-hospital patients and accompanying persons in the Municipal Chest Hospital and 1 patient family member. The expert group determined that 4 of them were confirmed cases and 5 were asymptomatic infections.
Up to now , 6 confirmed cases have been found in our city, of which 2 were the asymptomatic infections previously announced by Jiang Moumou (female) and Han Moumou; 6 cases of asymptomatic infection. All confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections discovered so far are highly related to the Municipal Chest Hospital.
Of the 76 close contacts of close contacts who have been investigated , 34 have been found to be negative; 810 people have been in general contact, and 485 have been found to be negative. 143,893 employees of medical institutions, newly hospitalized patients and accompanying persons in the city were investigated, and all samples were completed. 114,862 people have been found, all of which are negative. A full-staff testing program has been formulated and launched. With the active cooperation of the general public, community testing is speeding up. The five districts of Shinan, Shibei, Licang, Laoshan and Chengyang will be fully covered within 3 days, and the whole city will be tested within 5 days Full coverage, test results will be released in time.
After the outbreak, in accordance with the deployment requirements of the provincial party committee and the provincial government, our city immediately activated an emergency response mechanism. Under the guidance of the national and provincial expert groups, it carried out epidemic research and judgment, flow adjustment, and investigation of key populations. The epidemic response work is accelerating. In the next step, the city will adhere to the combination of normalized prevention and control in autumn and winter and emergency response, strengthen flow research and judgment, and implement health management measures for the identified risk groups; scientifically delimit the scope of prevention and control areas, and adopt closed prevention and control areas Control measures ; strengthen the active monitoring of fever clinics and sentinel sites , pay special attention to persons with relevant symptoms, strictly implement observation measures before the nucleic acid test results are issued; implement more stringent prevention and control measures in various public places.
Qingdao Municipal Health Commission
October 12, 2020
Major news services, including the BBC and CNN have picked up the story.
Covid-19: China's Qingdao to test nine million in five daysChina to test 9 million people as coronavirus cluster detected in city of Qingdao
Given the recent travel holiday, it is no surprise that other provinces and territories are issuing warnings, and requiring quarantining of recent travelers to Qingdao. Typical is this announcement, published in the past few hours by the Macau Special Administrative Region Government Portal.
October 12, 2020
source: Novel Coronavirus Infection Response Coordination Center
Release date:
October 12, 2020 17:42
The Novel Coronavirus Infection Response Coordination Center announced today (12) that, taking into account the continued outbreak of new coronary pneumonia in Qingdao, Shandong, based on public health considerations, since 00:00 on October 13th, all persons who have visited Qingdao, Shandong within 14 days before entering the country Those who are in need of medical observation are required to receive 14 days of medical observation at a designated location in accordance with the requirements of the health authorities. The Response Coordination Center reminded that in addition to the corresponding criminal responsibility in accordance with the law, the violator can still be subject to compulsory isolation measures.
In addition, the Response Coordination Center urges citizens to suspend non-essential trips to Qingdao City, Shandong Province if they do not have to. If they must go, they should take strict protective measures and avoid going to crowded places or high-risk medical institutions. place.
So far I haven't seen any responses from Hong Kong or Taiwan.
So far China has managed to keep a lid on COVID-19 since the spring wave was quashed. We'll simply have to wait to see if, or for how long, that good fortune can hold.
