Zhong Nanshan Photo:VCG

While a number of places in China are seeing COVID-19 infection curves flattened, the epidemic situation in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province remains unclear, topping the country's daily statistics with the most infection cases over the past few days. However, China's top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said on Monday that the virus spike in Heilongjiang will be subdued in one to two weeks.

The National Health Commission reported 12 new confirmed cases on Monday, eight of which are from Heilongjiang. Of the eight cases, two were previously deemed asymptomatic, and another six were all discovered during mass COVID-19 screening of close contacts who had already been put under quarantine. 

Total confirmed cases in the province have reached 522, and silent carriers 529.

Zhong analyzed the epidemic situation in the region during a video interview with Yang Baofeng, a professor at Harbin Medical University, saying that one of the key factors that leads to the resurgence is the cold weather. 

"The virus in this round of cluster infections has a much faster transmission speed and is good at concealing itself. It not only happened in northeastern China, but in neighboring Russia as well, indicating that the cold weather has something to do with the flare-up," Zhong noted. 

The coronavirus is known to survive longer in lower temperatures. Coupled with a closed indoor environment, winter has become a vulnerable season for contracting the virus. 

In addition, the recent spike has exposed loopholes in epidemic prevention in rural areas, where people's knowledge of protecting themselves from the disease is relatively poor, especially during the upcoming Spring Festival holidays, the most important event for gatherings among the rural population.  

Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital, noted that although Heilongjiang has reported the most cases in China, it does not indicate that the epidemic situation is worsening. 

"On the contrary, as we can see from the epidemiological report, most cases were already put under quarantine before being confirmed, which means that silent carriers are being controlled without transmitting the virus to crowds," Wang told the Global Times.

Zhong assured the public that the recent outbreak will be curbed in one to two weeks, given the slowing trend of infections thanks to strong, timely government intervention.

 "If it weren't for the tough measures, there could be up to 130,000 people infected with coronavirus by the end of February, a study by the Lanzhou University showed," he said.

Zhong reminded people to never let their guard down, as Heilongjiang has many migrant workers, and the frequent flow of personnel may bring higher risks of virus transmission. 

Wang added that a most effective measure of all is to stay on high alert at all times and all places. "Although the cold weather is one of the inducing factors resulting in the surge, the most crucial one was that people have relaxed their vigilance towards the epidemic," he told the Global Times.