China's Prevention agency urges localities to rectify wrong measures

On November 22, 2022, residents line up to take the nucleic acid tests in Chongqing, China. The Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council has reiterated its commitment to cracking down on COVID 19 control malpractices, and urged localities to rectify the wrong implementation of the 20 new adjusted measures announced recently, China Central Television reported on Saturday.

The mechanism said that some local governments have been found to roll out overt measures such as ordering widespread lockdowns or take a lax attitude toward the disease, and both tendencies are wrong.

The issue of imposing additional COVID-19 restrictions, as well as other problems that have emerged after the release of the 20 measures on November 11 must be addressed, it added.

Wang Liping, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that these new measures have not only required local officials to deal with local outbreaks in a more scientific manner, but also guided them to be more considerate in enforcement.

As domestic outbreaks are spreading fast and widely, Wang said that the key to reining in infections is to identify infections in communities, identify close-contacts and designate at-risk areas during the initial phase of a new outbreak.

She said that investigators, transporting staff and nucleic acid testing personnel should cooperate and exchange information in order to get the golden window of opportunity of 24 hours to prevail over the disease.

In addition to the 20 adjusted measures, Wang said that the mechanism has released four technical guidelines to standardize nucleic acid testing protocols.

She stressed that disease control workers must wait until at-risk people are transported away before they can start the next round of mass testing in a region.

She said that the National Health Commission and the National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control have sent working groups to urge and guide localities to implement the latest and ninth COVID 19 control protocol and the 20 measures, as well as take more resolute measures to curb rising infections.