Coronavirus: China ‘must detect asymptomatic cases’ to prevent Lunar New Year spread

The country’s chief epidemiologist says the most important measure this winter is to stop people without symptoms spreading the virus
Huge numbers are expected to travel for the Spring Festival in February

Coronavirus pandemic

Sarah Zheng

Published: 2:15pm, 15 Dec 2020

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China needs to ensure effective testing and detection of asymptomatic Covid-19 cases to control the spread of the coronavirus during the new year and Lunar New Year, a top government expert has said.

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Tuesday that the most important measure this winter would be to prevent people without symptoms from spreading the virus, given the billions of trips traditionally made across China during the Spring Festival, which this winter falls in February.

“As long as there are no coronavirus cases among those travelling, then there will not be large-scale transmission,” he was quoted as saying by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. “So the focus is on testing and detection of asymptomatic patients, regularly testing groups that are at high risk, and detecting those who may have been exposed to or infected by the virus but show no symptoms.”

The focus on effective testing during the holidays came after Zeng Guang, the CDC’s former chief epidemiologist, told media on Monday that the government’s epidemic controls could prevent major outbreaks but that people should still limit large indoor gatherings, maintain good personal hygiene and wear face masks.

Wu on Tuesday sought to reassure against concerns that the coronavirus was resurging during the winter, which he said was a normal occurrence for infectious respiratory diseases and a trend that had been seen around the world. There have been more than 72 million Covid-19 cases globally, causing more than 1.6 million deaths.

“During the winter, most countries saw a large rebound in coronavirus and the number of people infected and goods contaminated with the virus have increased,” Wu said. “But there is no need to be overly worried, since the sporadic outbreak of the virus [in China] is normal.”

In December, there have been clusters in provinces and regions including Shandong, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Xinjiang. But authorities have taken aggressive measures, including mass testing and a partial lockdown in the southwestern city of Chengdu after 10 confirmed cases and two asymptomatic cases were reported there last week.

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Experts in China have said that the preventive measures have focused on the risk of imported cases of the coronavirus, which make up most new cases in the country. The national health authority on Tuesday reported 17 new cases, 14 of which were imported.

Wu said there was a greater need for China to guard against the virus during winter and a higher likelihood of recurrences of outbreaks where the virus had spread in the past.

Officials have reported detecting the presence of the coronavirus on imported foods and packaging in places including Jiangsu, Fujian, Hubei and Shandong, but Wu stressed that buying and eating imported foods was still safe.

“We cannot expect customs to be able to find all the contaminated imported goods and we cannot expect all the sanitisation measures to fully kill the virus,” he said.

“The small amount of contaminated goods that we have found is understandable. But one point that is very clear is that the coronavirus will not spread through food and will not spread through digestion. As long as we take effective preventive measures, the purchase and use of imported foods is safe.”

Individuals who handled imported frozen goods had also been subjected to regular coronavirus testing, he said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Expert tells how effective testing will help control Lunar New Year spread

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