Health tips for the Spring Festival holiday 2023 (II)

This is a reminder from the China CDC.

People should continue to take protective measures against the spread of COVID-19 during this year's Spring Festival holiday, and take adequate prevention measures against such diseases as norovirus enteritis, cholera and dengue fever.

 

We wish you a happy Spring Festival holiday! 

 

During the Spring Festival holiday, we still face the risk of imported and local transmission of COVID-19.

 

The novel coronavirus is mainly transmitted through respiratory droplets and close contact. It is also transmitted through aerosols in a closed environment. Contact with items contaminated by the virus can also cause infection. 

 

The main symptoms include: fever, chills, cough, fatigue, myalgia, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat, loss of smell and taste, conjunctivitis and diarrhea.

 

Prevention:

Reduce unnecessary travel and gatherings, especially for the elderly, patients with underlying health conditions, and pregnant women.

 

Maintain good ventilation in residential areas. 

 

Prepare disinfectant and hand sanitizers. When going out, you should wear a mask, follow social distancing rules, wash hands frequently and avoid crowded places. If any suspected symptoms of COVID-19 appear during the trip, you should seek medical help immediately and abort your trip.

 

Consult the overseas travel destination about their COVID-19 policies in advance and get fully prepared.

  

After returning from your trip, you should monitor your health conditions. 

 

Seasonal influenza is mainly transmitted through respiratory droplets, and can also be directly or indirectly transmitted through oral and nasal cavities, eyes and other mucous membranes. Most cases of seasonal influenza show only mild symptoms. Pregnant women, infants, the elderly or patients with chronic basic diseases are at a higher risk of developing severe symptoms or even dying from it.

 

Prevention:

 

(1) Receiving influenza vaccines every year is the most effective way to prevent influenza, and can significantly reduce the risk of developing severe symptoms. It is recommended that pregnant women, children aged 6 months to 5 years, the elderly aged 60 years and above, patients with chronic basic diseases and other high-risk groups, family members and caregivers of infants under 6 months of age, and medical staff should receive influenza vaccines.

 

(2)Taking daily protective measures can also reduce the infection and transmission of influenza. These include maintaining hygiene habits, and covering the mouth and nose with tissues and towels when coughing or sneezing; 

Wash hands frequently and try to avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth with hands. 

Eat a balanced diet, exercise moderately, and have enough rest. 

Avoid close contact with patients with influenza-like symptoms, and try to avoid going to places where people gather in the influenza epidemic season. 

When patients with influenza symptoms go to the hospital for treatment, they and their companions should wear masks to avoid cross infection.

 

Norovirus enteritis can occur year-round, with a high incidence in winter and spring in China. Outbreaks mostly occur in places of gathering, such as schools, kindergartens, hospitals, nursing homes and cruise ships.

 

Norovirus spreads quickly in different ways. You can contract norovirus by coming in direct contact with an infected person, consuming contaminated food or water and touching contaminated surfaces and then putting your unwashed hands in your mouth. 

 

The most common symptoms of norovirus are diarrhea and vomiting. Other symptoms include nausea, stomachache, fever, headache and body aches. Most people infected with norovirus recover within two to three days.

 

Prevention: 

1. Maintain hand hygiene. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, especially after using the toilet, before eating, preparing or handling food, and after taking care of patients.

 

2. Pay attention to food and water safety. Eat cooked food, wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly, and make sure oysters and other seafood are well cooked before eating. When dining out, you should choose restaurants with good sanitary conditions.

 

3. When you are sick, you need to quarantine yourself. People infected with norovirus should quarantine at home for three days after recovery. Try not to have close contact with other family members, and do not prepare or process food, or take care of the elderly or infants.

 

4. Clean and disinfect surfaces. Surfaces contaminated by vomit or feces of infected patients should be cleaned and disinfected with chlorine-based or other disinfectants immediately, and contaminated clothes or bed sheets should be removed and cleaned immediately. Put on rubber or disposable gloves during cleaning, and wash hands afterwards.

 

There is usually a high incidence of food poisoning during holidays. Food poisoning usually develops quickly a short time after eating, with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

 

Prevention:

Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, especially after using the toilet, before eating, preparing or handling food, touching pets or handling garbage.

  

Raw and cooked food should be separated. Kitchenware used for processing food and containers should also be separated. Choose fresh fruit and vegetables.

 

Store food at the recommended temperature. Cooked food should not be stored at room temperature for more than two hours. Leftover food that cannot be finished in one meal should be refrigerated or frozen.

 

When dining out, you should choose a regular restaurant with good sanitary conditions. Maintain good table manners; try to separate meals, and use serving chopsticks and spoons to reduce the risk of infection. Do not eat unknown fungi or wild plants.

 

Prevention:

(1)Central heating should be the preferred choice in cold weather. When heating appliances such as coal stoves and charcoal fire are used indoors, the coal should be burned out and not covered. Doors and windows should be opened frequently to keep the indoor air fresh. When a vehicle is parked in a garage or basement, do not let the engine run continuously. When the car is switched off, do not leave the air conditioner on for a long time, and do not sleep in the car with doors and windows closed and the air conditioner on.

 

(2)In case of non-occupational carbon monoxide poisoning, open windows immediately for ventilation to flush the air, and quickly turn off gas stoves, water heaters, pipeline gas, and put out any charcoal fire. Call 120, the emergency number, as soon as possible and carry out hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatment. For critically ill patients with respiratory and cardiac arrest, artificial respiration and cardiac compression should be given immediately, and at the same time they should be quickly transferred to the hospital for emergency treatment. 

 

Cholera is an intestinal infectious disease, mainly transmitted through contaminated water or food. The main symptoms are acute watery diarrhea and vomiting. 

Prevention:

(1) Wash hands frequently, especially before and after meals, and before processing food.

(2) Pay attention to the hygiene of food and drinking water, try to eat cooked food, do not eat raw meat, seafood and vegetables, wash and peel fruits, and drink boiled water or unopened prepackaged water and drinks.

(3) If it is unavoidable to go to the area where cholera outbreaks occur, oral cholera vaccine may have certain preventive effects if taken before travel.

 

Dengue fever is mainly transmitted by mosquito bites. The incubation period is 3-15 days. The main symptoms include fever, headache, orbital pain, joint muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, rash, and mild bleeding. 

Prevention:

(1) Wear loose, light-colored long-sleeved jacket and trousers.

(2) Spray mosquito repellent on skin and clothes.