Chongqing- With the approach of New Year's Day and Spring Festival of 2022, the leading group of Chongqing Center for Disease Control and Prevention has formulated the working plan to ensure that the people spend a healthy and safe holiday.

At the press conference on December 21, Li Pan, deputy director of Chongqing Municipal Health Commission, requested citizens curtail their travel during the two-festival periods. The flow of people across provinces, regions, and cities should be reduced, and people in high-risk positions should avoid traveling as much as possible. "Be sure to take personal protection when you travel, to maintain good hygiene habits and a healthy lifestyle," he added.

The 97th COVID-19 Epidemic Prevention and Control Press Conference was held on December 21. (iChongqing/ Zhan Chen)

Transportation guarantee during the festivals

From Chen Yongzhong, deputy director of Chongqing Municipal Transportation Bureau, they have prepared 300 emergency capacities based on the normal capacity input in case of a service shortage.

The passenger flow is expected to increase slightly from last year during the Spring Festival. Seventeen thousand highway vehicles and 310 waterway ships have been initially arranged. The railway and civil aviation capacity will be dynamically adjusted according to the pre-sale of tickets to ensure passengers' travel.

Measures for imported cold chain food

Yang Guang, Deputy Director of the Chongqing Administration for Market Regulation, suggested that the citizens not purchase cold chain food unless necessary. Relevant departments must strictly implement six-sided disinfection of imported food and ensure that each product is disinfected in place.

Meanwhile, constructing a visual monitoring platform for the first warehouse should be completed. Realizing the remote visual supervision of the whole process of cold chain food is vital, from warehouse inspection, special channel transportation, area storage to nucleic acid detection.

Medical staff continuously do the samplings for citizens. (iChongqing file photo)

Omicron variant 

Relevant evidence shows that the Omicron variant is more infectious, "The key still lies in prevention and control. In this regard, we must be fully prepared," said Su Kun, epidemiologist of the Chongqing Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

He stated that this variant strain has no effect on the sensitivity and specificity of nucleic acid testing in China. "It should be noted that nucleic acid testing is affected by many factors. So what the general public has to do is to cooperate with standardized sampling," he said, "Although the Omicron variant has brought us new challenges and uncertainties, the current epidemic prevention and control strategies and measures are all effective."