Late at night on the 30th, Foshan, Guangdong, China issued an announcement that, according to emergency response plans for public health incidents and in view of the current Chikungunya outbreak prevention and control situation, it has decided to initiate a Level III public health emergency response.
At 11:32 p.m. on Wednesday, Foshan Municipal Government announced via the “Foshan Release” WeChat public account that, in accordance with emergency response plans for public health incidents and considering Foshan’s current Chikungunya outbreak prevention and control situation, it has decided to activate the city’s Level III public health emergency response.
This round of the Chikungunya outbreak in Guangdong was first discovered in Shunde District, Foshan.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told Bloomberg News that, due to the rising number of Chikungunya infections in China, it plans to issue a travel health advisory for China. China has recorded nearly 5,000 cases of this mosquito-borne disease.
China’s National Health Commission announced on its official website on Wednesday that a national teleconference on Chikungunya prevention and control was held in Beijing on the 29th. The meeting emphasized the need to strengthen risk assessment of the Chikungunya epidemic, take decisive control measures, effectively coordinate development and safety, and firmly safeguard people’s health as well as maintain overall socio-economic stability. It is necessary to strengthen regional coordination and interdepartmental cooperation, carry out multi-channel surveillance and early warning, and prevent the epidemic from spreading and being imported from abroad.
Chikungunya is an acute mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by the Chikungunya virus. Like dengue fever, it is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and occurs frequently in tropical and subtropical regions.
Chikungunya and dengue fever have similar clinical symptoms, such as fever, rash, and joint pain. Joint pain is more pronounced in Chikungunya patients, while dengue fever patients experience milder joint pain, with primary symptoms being muscle and bone pain, and petechiae appearing on the skin.