Zhang Yu
JeniZhang13@163.com
SHENZHEN on Tuesday issued six emergency measures to cope with increasing outpatient visits at fever clinics as flu cases are on the rise.
Children with no history of exposure to the novel coronavirus visiting the city’s fever clinics can return to their home for observation without having to wait for the nucleic acid test results after taking it at the time they see a doctor, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission.
Pediatric patients are advised to avoid taking public transportation to get home and for going out until the nucleic acid test results are available. Other fever clinic outpatients are required to wait for the nucleic acid test results before leaving.
According to the commission, flu activity has continued to increase in Shenzhen since June. The positive rate of flu virus detection has rapidly increased to over 20%.
Like other cities in the province, the dominant influenza strain in Shenzhen currently is the influenza A virus subtype H3N2.
Local monitoring data also showed that from June 8 to 14, five out of 100 outpatients on average had fever over 38 degrees Celsius accompanied by flu symptoms such as cough or sore throat, and 48% of the outpatients were children aged 0-14.
Hospitals can set up a special area for children’s flu follow-up visits in general pediatrics or internal medicine clinics, the city’s health authority suggested.
The health commission has required all hospitals to increase their manpower at fever clinics and outpatient and emergency departments, optimize the treatment process, adjust the scheduling reasonably, improve the reception capacity of fever clinics and emergency departments (emergency pediatrics), and provide 24-hour services.
Hospitals are also urged to further strengthen infection prevention and control in fever clinics as well as outpatient and emergency departments.
Priority should be given to patients with serious illnesses, the commission said. Hospitals should also properly arrange nucleic acid tests and blood exams to reduce patients’ waiting time and avoid crowd gathering.
Eligible community health centers across the city are also encouraged to set up fever clinics as soon as possible in order to divert fever patients who haven’t been exposed to COVID-19 and avoid excessive concentration of fever patients in hospitals’ fever clinics.
Influenza, or flu, is a contagious respiratory infection caused by flu viruses, which spread mainly in respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing, as well as through contact with mucous membranes of a patient’s eyes, mouth or nose.
The Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an alert that the city’s risk level for flu is medium between yesterday and next Tuesday. |