Photo: CFP

 
Drawing lessons from repeated cross infection incidents in hospitals, China’s State Council urged authorities to strengthen management of designated hospitals for COVID-19 treatment across the country. 

Cross infection incident within hospital has alarmed Zhengzhou, capital city of Central China’s Henan Province, which recently just went through fatal flood. The flare-up was triggered by cross infections at the Sixth People's Hospital, a designated hospital for treatment of overseas arrivals who are infected with COVID-19.

The joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council asked local authorities to shoulder the responsibility in daily management of designated hospitals. Designated hospitals, designated venues to treat overseas arrivals who are infected with COVID-19, are one of key places to guard against overseas epidemic and domestic outbreak outbound, it said in a notice released on Tuesday. 

The treatment of imported cases and local cases should be in separate buildings and isolated from zones of other patient wards or medical staffs, preventing the flow of people, goods and air, the notice said. If local outbreak occurs, designated hospitals should empty the hospital for local confirmed and asymptomatic cases. 

The State Council also mentioned the training, routine nucleic acid tests and vaccination of medical staffs, security guards and cleaning staff working at those designated hospitals. 

All staff members should complete vaccination before they start working at quarantine wards for COVID-19 patients and undergo closed-loop management, the notice reads. 

Once there is one cross infection or there are huge loopholes within the hospital, hospitals shall shoulder the responsibility, the State Council said. 

The confirmed and asymptomatic cases reported within Henan are mostly related to the Sixth People's Hospital, most are hospitalized patients, cleaning staff and patients’ accompanying relatives. Zhengzhou reported one more confirmed case on Tuesday, bringing the total cases to 134 since July 31, the Henan provincial health authorities reported Wednesday. 

At the wake of cross infections that occurred at the Sixth People's Hospital, a total of 208 COVID-19 patients and people under medical observation were transferred to the First People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou as of Tuesday. 

On July 31, one day after the first case was reported in Zhengzhou, Fu Guirong, secretary of Zhengzhou Health Commission Party group, and Party chief of Zhengzhou Sixth People's Hospital were removed from their posts.

Global Times