Photo: VCG

Chinese authorities emphasized the dynamic zero-COVID policy and stressed to avoid the one-size-fit-all approach in epidemic prevention under the dynamic policy as the National Day holidays are approaching, calling on the public to stay put during the holidays given the flare-ups of the Omicron infections in multiple areas nationwide.

Compared with August, the daily number of new infections has dropped significantly and the spread of the epidemic has narrowed at present, Lei Zhenglong, deputy director of the National Health Commission's Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control, announced during a press briefing on Thursday.

With the implementation of swift, scientific and precise prevention and control measures, provinces and regions including Hainan, Xinjiang heavily hit by the outbreaks previously have achieved initial victories in the combat against the epidemic, said Lei.

According to Lei, the flare-ups broke out across the county including Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regions, Southwest China's Guizhou Province and Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, were caused by the Omicron BA.5 and BA.2.76 variants.

Experts noted that with the upcoming National Day holidays and the increased personnel flow of travelers, risks of imported and local infections and the occurrence of cluster infections in multiple places still exist due to the latent characteristic of these Omicron variants with strong transmission capacity, Lei said at the press briefing.

The authority urged the relevant departments to carry out a scientific and precise epidemic prevention and control work, while sticking to the dynamic zero-COVID policy, resolutely preventing simplification and avoiding a one-size-fit-all approach or excessive prevention, directing the public to flow safely and in an orderly manner.

The authority also advocated the public to stay put during the holidays and avoid trans-provincial travels or visit medium- and high-risk areas.

Besides, travelers have to present their negative nucleic acid test results obtained within 48 hours before taking planes, trains, long-distance buses and ships.

It is expected that 210 million road passenger trips will be made during the coming National Day holidays, 30 percent decreased from that of the same period last year, according to Han Jinghua, deputy director of the Transportation Services Department of the Ministry of Transport.

Besides, an estimated number of 68.5 million trips will be made by railway passengers nationwide and 496,000 trips will be made by passengers by air at the two airports in Beijing during the coming holidays.

The authority emphasized that strict epidemic prevention measures will be implemented with tourists heading to Beijing to be checked with their health codes and nucleic acid testing results before their arrival.

Beijing reported a new local infection on Thursday afternoon. Preliminary epidemiological investigation showed that the patient contracted the virus during a trip to another place, Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said during a press briefing on Thursday.

According to Liu, the patient neither took the nucleic acid test during a 24-hour period upon arrival nor took the initiative to report to the community or company or related department or visit the hospital when the symptoms showed, which increased the risk of the spread of the epidemic.

The authority pointed out that imported cases from overseas and other provinces are still the major risk of epidemic prevention in the capital city and personnel arriving in Beijing will be the key to epidemic prevention during the National Day holidays.