CHONGQING – Chongqing has reduced the COVID infection rate at the community level to below 5%, meaning more than 95% of new cases were found in quarantine areas, including the newly built cabin hospitals.

On November 27, Chongqing reported 9,612 new cases, among which 386 cases were reported at the community level, accounting for 4.02% of the total number. Non-central districts reported a total of 862 new cases, including 43 cases at the community level.

In addition, 259 new cases were found in Liangping New Area in a single day, which was still in the stage of rapid rise; Wuxi, Dianjiang, and Xiushan County all had more than 50 new cases per day, though the trend slowed down.

The improvement in containing the pandemic spread has further promoted the reopening of the city. The press conference of the municipal people’s government on November 20 proposed for the first time to create “zero-COVID neighborhoods.”

According to the official introduction, the low-risk neighborhoods can apply for becoming zero-COVID neighborhoods if there are no new positive cases for five consecutive days. If there are no new positive cases within ten days after the application, they can be listed as a zero-COVID neighborhood.

A zero-COVID neighborhood no longer participates in the city’s massive nucleic acid tests. Under the premise of not gathering and crowding, one person per household can go out to purchase daily necessities nearby every two days.

Multiple contiguous zero-COVID neighborhoods can form zero-COVID communities, while multiple contiguous zero-COVID communities can further form zero-COVID streets. The city will follow such plan to expand the scope of residents’ free activities steadily.

Guo Shuliang, director and chief physician of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, reminded citizens that the number of asymptomatic cases is still rising every day.

“Omicron spreads very fast. Once the virus met with severe high-risk groups, such as the elderly over 60 years old, people with underlying diseases, people with low immunity, obese people, pregnant women, even heavy smokers, and some people who have not been vaccinated, the consequences of their infection may be more serious, and will develop into severe disease, critical illness, and even threaten their lives,” he said.

In response to the question asked by the citizen that the differentiation between an asymptomatic infected person and a Hepatitis B virus carrier, Guo said a Hepatitis B virus carrier doesn’t need to be quarantined since the virus can only be transmitted through blood and from a mother to her child.

However, Omicron is an acute respiratory infectious disease with a strong transmission capacity. If not managed properly, it will lead to serious consequences.

“Now, Chinese doctors adopt early detection, treatment and management, sleep improvement, and soothing mood to accelerate patients’ recovery,” said Guo. “We use traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine joint intervention to promote the immunity of infected people.”