If not controlled, the infections may be doubled in two days." "This does not necessarily require a complete lockdown of the city. In addition to nucleic acid testing, Wei believes that proper control of gatherings and mobility of people is also a necessary means to quickly cut off the transmission path. "According to previous experience, it usually takes two or three rounds of nucleic acid testing to identify all potential infections," Wei remarked. He explained that to detect a potential infection, it is very necessary to carry out several rounds of nucleic acid testing in a short time because, although the incubation period of Omicron is shorter, it is still different in each individual. "Our studies showed that if we discover five infections at once, and then conduct three rounds of mass nucleic acid testing within 48 hours, the number of infections could be reduced to less than 20 within a week," the public health expert added. Therefore, in order to detect potential infections as soon as possible and cut the transmission chain of the virus, the best way currently is to complete multiple rounds of nucleic acid tests in a short period of time, such as 48 or 72 hours, to catch up with the speed of transmission of Omicron, Wei said. Therefore, this variant may have spread further if we still use the existing epidemiological investigation to find and control all potential infections. The extraordinary infection rate of the Omicron variant has created difficulties in epidemiological investigation as transmission chain tracking cannot keep pace with the spread of the virus, said Wei, noting that research shows that Omicron can infect a person within a day.
"Mass nucleic acid testing is the most effective method in screening out all potential infections and prevent a large-scale outbreak of Omicron," Wei said.
Wei Sheng, public health expert from the School of Public Health of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on Monday night that the wider range of mass nucleic acid testing is very timely, decisive and also necessary. According to the 2021 census, the total population of these areas is nearly 20 million while Beijing's total population is 21.89 million. Beijing's health authorities announced at a late night news conference that the Chinese capital will launch mass nucleic acid testing on its nearly 20 million residents, about 90 percent of the population, on Tuesday, after the city reported 70 COVID-19 infections in eight districts in the last four days.Įleven more areas in the city, including 10 districts and Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area will start doing mass testing of their residents on Tuesday after Chaoyang district started nucleic acid testing on Monday.
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