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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2021-05-04 17:20
The last update date: 2021-05-04 17:20
As of Tuesday (4th), Hong Kong has recorded at least six cases of the India variant virus. The community is worried that a new wave of more severe epidemics will break out.
The medical community has long been alert to this mutant virus. William A. Haseltine, a former professor at Harvard Medical School, wrote in Forbes that this new mutant virus has "all the characteristics of a very dangerous virus" and its spread must be clarified as soon as possible. Prevent and control.
Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist at the World Health Organization, also said that the mutation of this virus can increase the infectivity of the virus and reduce the virus's response to neutralizing antibodies.
In response to the characteristics of this variant virus, the Hong Kong government has adjusted its prevention and control measures more severely.
After discovering the variant virus cases in Yingwan Garden and Meiyuan Building in Tung Chung, the authorities immediately arranged a more stringent isolation or evacuation test plan than ordinary confirmed cases, reflecting that the government's epidemic prevention efforts and strategies have changed with the changes in the virus situation. Adjustment.
Of course, this does not mean that the current efforts and measures can cope with the latest epidemic well.
On the contrary, because of the seriousness of the variant virus in India, society should take this opportunity to discuss and review the current measures in a comprehensive way, which are worthy of inadequacies and lagging behind.
For example, with regard to the influx of a variant virus into Hong Kong, although the medical profession has not yet fully grasped the characteristics of this variant virus, different experts have put forward many possibilities, and these opinions can help the government cope with different epidemics in the future. Take measures and strengths more calmly when needed.
On the evening of May 3, the Department of Health announced that an Indian woman in the Meiyuan Building, Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui was infected with the variant virus. The residents carried their luggage and boarded the car at midnight to go to the quarantine center for isolation on the 21st.
(Photo by Li Zetong)
Quarantine and inspection must catch up with the epidemic
Taking virus testing as an example, Xu Shuchang, Chair Professor of Respiratory System at CUHK, and Professor Yuan Guoyong, Chair Professor of Department of Microbiology, University of Hong Kong, believe that many confirmed cases have multiple negative results before they are diagnosed. It is necessary to follow up the sampling process and quality to strengthen Inspect outsourced laboratories and review negative result samples.
Associate Professor Hsiao Kit-hang of the Department of Medical Technology and Informatics of PolyU reflected on the tracking work and believed that the scope of genetic sequencing should be expanded so that even if there is an outbreak in the community, it can instantly know which cases have flowed into the community. This can improve the layer-by-layer contact tracking work and find faster Out of the transmission chain.
Regarding the fuse mechanism of the Hong Kong government, experts believe that in addition to tightening the conditions for triggering the fuse, it can also make the fuse mechanism have a retrospective period.
At present, only those arriving in Hong Kong when the circuit breaker takes effect will follow the latest testing and quarantine requirements. However, people in high-risk areas who have arrived in Hong Kong more than a few days before the circuit breaker may also have been infected. Therefore, the authorities may consider specific requirements. The situation in the region of the United States, explore the increase in the number of inspections or the number of days of isolation for local people who have entered the country before the circuit breaker.
In response to the problem of imported viruses, although the Hong Kong Government is actively evacuating residents of buildings with confirmed cases, the time frame for compulsory testing may not be sufficient.
Take Tung Chung, where all the three variant virus cases have been, as an example. Since all three of them were present in Citygate on April 11, the government's mandatory testing notice required citizens who had been to the mall to be tested on that day.
However, considering that the virus has a long incubation period and cannot be accurately grasped, compared with other confirmed cases, Xu Shuchang suggests that people who have visited Citygate and the patient’s restaurant on or after the 11th of last month should be Should be tested.
The government requires citizens who have visited the same clinic on the same day as the mutant virus patient to be subject to mandatory testing. The deadline will expire on May 2. The temporary testing station outside Tung Chung Citygate will continue to line up on the last day of the deadline.
(Photo by Huang Shuhui)
Vaccination is effective in preventing epidemics
At the same time, considering that the Indian man in Jordan has the same genetic sequence as the confirmed Filipino domestic helper in Yingwan Garden, Tung Chung, Yuan Guoyong is worried that the mutant virus is spreading in the community and appealed to the public to get vaccinated.
In addition to vaccinations, Xu Shuchang believes that although social distancing restrictions do not need to be tightened immediately, citizens must also be vigilant and become an auxiliary measure to prevent the spread of the virus.
It can be seen that compared with the previous anti-epidemic momentum, social distancing restrictions were mainly tightened. Since the supply of vaccines to Hong Kong is still sufficient, the strategy and focus of internal non-proliferation may be different.
These suggestions and reflections do not only point out the loopholes in the current epidemic prevention, but also show that because of the changing situation of the epidemic, variant viruses "emerge in endlessly", we will never be able to formulate the most suitable future epidemic prevention strategy at the moment.
Therefore, in the face of a complex and changeable epidemic, society must not only see the deficiencies revealed in every import and outbreak, but also draw lessons from the current and past deficiencies, and formulate response plans under different circumstances.
Only in this way can we quickly adjust the most appropriate plan according to the severity of each virus and the spread of the epidemic. This is the best epidemic response plan.
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