- Writing
- BBC News World
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Hospitals in China are facing intense pressure from the wave of patients arriving at intensive care units infected with covid-19, according to information coming from the Asian nation.
In early December, the Beijing government announced a complete turnaround in its anti-coronavirus policy – until then the strictest in the world – and began to eliminate mandatory lockdowns and the extensive testing program, after a series of citizen protests. against restrictions.
With the elimination of mandatory tests, has become impossible to trace new cases in the countryat the same time that the Chinese authorities have made it difficult to count deaths from covid by only registering those caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure under that category.
In a report from the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCD) leaked to the pressthe authorities estimate that almost 250 million people were infected with covid-19 in the first 20 days of decembere.
However, the Chinese National Health Commission (CNS) has reclassified covid-19 from a type A disease to a type B disease, that is, it generally does not pose a threat to the lives of healthy people. It also announced on Sunday that it would no longer publish infection figures.
The lack of official information has led the World Health Organization (WHO) and some governments to demand that Beijing greater transparency about new cases, their severity and the number of hospitalizations.
1. What is known so far?
The full picture is not very clear. Added to the censorship that exists in the media is the government’s decision not to publish the figures for new infections.
Foreign media depend on testimonials, photos and videos posted on social media by users inside China for their coverage of the situation.
In some of the more recent ones you see alarming scenes in hospital emergency roomswith patients – many of them elderly – lying on stretchers, filling the corridors waiting for a diagnosis or to be admitted.
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Many patients have to wait in the corridors to be seen.
A journalist from the newspaper The Washington Post recorded a video in which patients are seen crammed into corridors after corridors, with family members standing near them, blocking their way.
This close contact between the sick and supposedly uninfected people could trigger cases.
According to the American newspaper, the state media reported that the emergency unit of the Zhongshan hospital, one of the most important in China, was handling about 1,000 patients dailybetween 700 and 800 more than at the same time last year.
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Covid tests are no longer mandatory in China.
By the time the Chinese government decided to lift strict restrictions to control the disease, outbreaks were already on the rise. But ever since the contagions It has beenn firedraising the prospect of a high mortality rate among the elderly.
The CNS recently asked hospitals to reactivate retired health workers to help with the flood of cases and to replace doctors and nurses who have been infected with covid.
There is also concern that many hospitals no longer have stocks of specific drugs to treat covid and are only offering drugs against specific symptoms such as cough, he told the Asian newspaper. The Strait Times a worker at a hospital pharmacy in the city of Chengdu.
Also, China has lagged behind with its covid vaccination program. Besides, thes vaccines who developed and produces son considereds less effectives to protect againsts infectionones graves for covid than mRNA vaccines used in the rest of the world.
image source, Getty Images
A shortage of medicines to treat covid is reported and hospitals are only handing out drugs like ibuprofen to treat symptoms.
2. How many cases and deaths are there?
The true number of covid infections and related deaths is unknown because the authorities have stopped publishing the data. The decision was announced last Sunday by the National Health Commission.
“Covid-19 related information will be released by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and research,” the CNS said in a statement, without elaborating.
Before making that decision, the Beijing government was reporting about 4,000 new cases a day and few deaths.
The low number of registered deaths may be due to the new way in which the authorities classify deaths from covid, attributing them only to those caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure.
image source, Getty Images
The large number of corpses that arrive at crematoria does not coincide with the official numbers of deaths from covid in China.
As of December 21, the official death toll for that month was just eight. At the same time, however, crematoria in the capital were having difficulties with the increase in bodies arriving for cremation.
In the report from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention leaked to the press, authorities estimate that almost 250 million people were infected with covid-19 in the first 20 days of Decemberafter the dismantling of the strict restrictions imposed since 2020 to control the disease.
The figures were revealed by Sun Yang, the deputy director of the CCDin a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, December 21, as leaked to the British newspaper Financial Times two people linked to that information.
Sun Yang claimed that his calculations included 37 million people infected on Tuesday, December 20 alone, adding that the rate of the spread of covid was still increasing and estimated that more than half of the population of Beijing and Sichuan was already infected.
image source, EPA
Critics say China is not being transparent with information about the disease.
A few days later, in unusual information from a newspaper controlled by the ruling Communist Party of China, the health director of the city Quigdao – of about 10 million inhabitants – assured that they were registering up to half a million new cases a day.
The unprecedented revelation that the wave of infections was not being reflected in official statistics was quickly censored and republished without the figures.
Health experts predict that China will register at least one million deaths from covid in 2023. Airfinitya British website specializing in the pandemic, estimates that they could exceed two million.
3. What do the WHO and the international community say?
The WHO expressed “very concern” with the evolution of the situation in China and the information that points to an increase in severe infection cases.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had urged China to share its data on the severity of the disease, hospitalizations and the capacity of its intensive care units.
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WHO calls for a full assessment of the situation.
In his statement, Tedros insisted that China must carry out the requested investigations to reach a full risk assessment of the situation on the ground.
He also said that the WHO will continue to support China to focus its efforts on vaccinating those most at risk throughout the country.
The director of the WHO emergencies program, Mike Ryan, expressed that they would urge China to import foreign mRNA vaccines, such as those from Moderna and BioNTech, which have proven to be more effective against covid-19.
China has not yet approved the use of these vaccines in its population.
Meanwhile, last Monday the Chinese government announced the reopening of its borders and the lifting of the limit on flights abroad.
Less than half an hour after the announcement, internet searches for trips to the most popular destinations increased 10-fold compared to last year.
However, Chinese tourists will not have free access to all countries.
image source, Archyde.com
The request for trips to the most popular destinations skyrocketed after the reopening of the borders.
The authorities in the United States announced this Wednesday that all passengers from China, Hong Kong and Macau will need a negative covid test to enter the country with the aim of “slowing down the spread” of the virus.
For its part, Japan, a popular destination for Chinese travelers, announced that it will also require negative covid tests upon arrival or submission to a seven-day quarantine.
Malaysia, Taiwan and India have also announced restrictions and other countries are considering them.
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