Since January 8, as of 12:00 on January 11, in just a few days, there have been more than 180 positive cases of Omicron epidemic in Tianjin and Anyang, Henan. This is the first time that the mutant has spread in China’s local community.
On November 11, at the press conference on epidemic prevention and control in Tianjin, Zhang Boli, academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering, said that unlike in the past, the symptoms of those infected in this round of epidemic were relatively light, resulting in strong concealment of the virus. Those without symptoms did not seek medical treatment. Many of them were found in the big screen, and the transmission of the virus was very strong. It also occurred that more than a dozen people were transmitted by one person.
On the evening of January 10, Zhang Ying, deputy director of Tianjin Center for Disease Control and prevention, said in an interview that in the process of investigation, due to the concealment and rapid spread of Omicron virus, once it is missed, it is possible that when you find it again, the secret contact will become infected, and one or two generations of transmission has begun in the community, Therefore, the virus has brought unprecedented challenges in terms of traceability, epidemiological investigation and control.
In order to curb the spread of the epidemic, Tianjin and Anyang have started full staff nucleic acid testing. Taking Tianjin as an example, the city has started the first round of full staff nucleic acid screening since 7:00 on January 9, and it is stipulated that the testing should be completed within 48 hours. At the above press conference, Han Jinyan, director of Tianjin Center for Disease Control and prevention and deputy director of Tianjin Health Commission, introduced that a total of 11912280 people had been sampled in this round of screening, 7892591 people had been found, 77 cases were positive, and relevant testing work was in progress.
The first financial reporter learned from Guangzhou Kingmed Diagnostics Group Co.Ltd(603882) (603882. SH) that on January 10, the company also set up “Falcon” hard gas membrane laboratories in Tianjin and Anyang, and participated in the nucleic acid detection of all staff in the city through the central laboratory.
Ren Jiankang, vice president of Guangzhou Kingmed Diagnostics Group Co.Ltd(603882) and expert in laboratory medicine, said that from the perspective of laboratory testing, the current mainstream testing methods can still detect Omicron strain, “fast” is still the first important meaning of nucleic acid testing, expand the nucleic acid testing capacity and shorten the reporting time, so as to find the infected person and find out the transmission chain quickly enough, To effectively stop the spread of the virus.
In the case of strong concealment and rapid transmission of Omicron virus, there are also concerns about whether it will challenge the sensitivity of existing nucleic acid detection reagents.
Jin Dongyan, a professor and virologist at the school of biomedicine of the University of Hong Kong, said in an interview with the first financial reporter that compared with delta virus, Omicron virus is more infectious, but it also has its own characteristics, that is, the amount of virus is very low, it comes and goes quickly, that is, negative to positive, and then negative, it is easy to pass, which is easy to lead to missed detection.
Some people engaged in the research and development of nucleic acid detection reagents also told the first financial reporter that low virus load, mild disease or asymptomatic, it is easy to cause hidden transmission, which is a great challenge to nucleic acid detection, and it is easy to miss detection. We can improve the sensitivity of nucleic acid detection by strengthening inter room quality assessment and improving the detection level of institutions.
Tan Deyong, the R & D project director of Sansure Biotech Inc(688289) respiratory production line, told the first financial reporter that at present, the symptoms of Omicron virus seem to be relatively mild, which still depends on everyone’s body immunity. If there are immune differences and even basic diseases, it may not be light. From the feedback from the front line, Omicron’s virus load is not low, There is a certain correlation between rapid transmission and virus load and detoxification. For example, Delta’s load is also very high and the transmission speed is also very fast. The sensitivity of nucleic acid detection kit depends on many factors, such as kit performance, extraction reagent, sample preservation solution type, sample type and so on.
“The detection sensitivity of each kit may be different. Our covid-19 nucleic acid detection kit is mainly based on the high-precision magnetic bead technology developed by the company for many years, which can achieve high-sensitivity or even hypersensitive detection of viruses, such as ultra-high-sensitivity detection of 10 copies / ml.” Tan Deyong said.
(source: First Finance)
