Expert explains logic behind new COVID treatment plan

Health experts elaborated on the logic behind the revisions introduced last week to the 10th version of the national COVID-19 treatment plan on Monday.

Guo Yanhong, director of the National Health Commission's medical emergency department, said the revisions were aimed at homogenizing treatment across different hospitals and making it more effective.

The new plan is in line with the decision to downgrade management of the virus, as the Omicron subvariant is less lethal, and instructs hospitals to handle COVID-19 patients the same way they handle patients with other Class B infections, Guo told a news conference in Beijing.

She said that major changes to the plan include allowing all hospitals — rather than just a few designated ones — to treat COVID patients, with patients to be discharged based on their condition, rather than on the negativity of their nucleic acid test, as doctors were required in the past.

"However, it is crucial that even if they do not have to do nucleic acid tests, patients should protect themselves, conduct home observation, and try to avoid socializing after being discharged," she said.

Guo said that testing positive using antigen test kits was included as a criterion in diagnosing COVID-19, given its accuracy, efficiency and convenience in detecting novel coronavirus infections.

The plan's authors have absorbed the lessons and experience of the past three years and mandate early intervention to prevent patients, especially those who are pregnant or have underlying health issues, from becoming critically ill, and also listed the warning signs of a possible worsening of condition, Guo noted.

It inherits a hybrid treatment approach that engages traditional Chinese medicine expertise and lays emphasis on the joint treatment of COVID-19 and preexisting conditions, she said.

Jia Zhongwu, director of the medical administration department of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said the plan's rules on TCM treatment has been modified in line with the shift in focus from control to treatment.

Many existing treatment methods are preserved in the new plan given that Omicron is still categorized as an epidemic in TCM, he said.

But the new plan includes some TCM treatments that target infections in the upper airway, a common symptom among those infected by Omicron, and mandated herbal medicines for different levels of severity.