“the situation is worse than what is believed”

Caracas.- Hospitals and crematoriums across China continue to be overwhelmed, mainly by the arrival of elderly people sick with Covid-19, after the government relaxed policy measures to contain the coronavirus as much as they could.

And just as the health centers are overwhelmed, the Chinese capital also shows shopping malls and restaurants packed with families who have already passed the disease and who, once recovered, take to the streets to see the Christmas lights, to buy gifts or to enjoy hobbies like ice skating. This dichotomy that can be seen in the capital city is not very far from what happens in the main cities of the country. The government’s greatest concern, however, is focused on rural areas, which are already preparing for an imminent blow of infections due to the massive displacements for the Lunar New Year holidays, reports the journalistic text of El País.

The sudden turn in Beijing’s anti-covid policy generated nervousness in the world, starting with the United States, which is studying restrictions for travelers from the Asian giant and its neighboring countries.

Since China announced the elimination of quarantines for travelers coming from abroad and the renewal of the passports of its nationals so that they can go abroad, several States have imposed or are considering applying restrictions, partly due to the lack of transparency with the who consider that Beijing handles the data of the pandemic. Japan, Taiwan and India will require a negative PCR for people coming from China. Italy will also require them to undergo a test after almost half of the passengers from the Asian giant have tested positive at some airports, according to the Efe agency. Meanwhile, official US sources cited by the Archyde.com agency have expressed their concern and have opened the door to the adoption of restrictions.

“The current situation does not invite optimism. I don’t know if we have already passed the peak of deaths or when we will pass it. The only thing I can share is that the situation is worse than what is believed and that many people are dying. I won’t say anything else.” Ditch Dr. Jia through a WeChat message. Jia works in the emergency room at a Beijing hospital that she, she assures her, is overwhelmed. “We have many patients, many of them with other underlying diseases, who are in serious condition. Currently, medical resources are insufficient, we do not have as many medicines and equipment as we expected. We are very tired. We hardly have breaks because there is a huge staff shortage at the moment. We come to work being sick, but even so, we don’t break down, ”she describes.

“Western epidemiologists warn that China is facing the most dangerous weeks since the outbreak of the health crisis in early 2020. On December 7, the Asian giant gave an unexpected and abrupt turnaround in its fight against covid, accelerated by a wave of protests between different sectors of the population, demanding a relaxation of the iron protocols that for almost three years have dictated the lives of its 1,400 million inhabitants.The change, which has occurred when the country was already facing its greatest outbreak of infections and in the middle of winter, it has caused a tsunami of infections that is putting its health system on the ropes”.

On Sunday, officials in Zhejiang province, home to 65 million people, announced that the number of daily cases exceeded 1 million, while those in the port city of Qingdao, of 10 million, estimated that around 500,000 people were getting sick. infecting every day. The data contrasts enormously with the official version of the National Health Commission, which on that Sunday published only 4,103 new cases throughout the country, before announcing that, in the future, it would stop reporting daily figures related to covid-19. .

Despite the fact that the end of the restrictions was accompanied by a 180 degree turn in the official narrative regarding the severity of the disease, the state media are also calling for people to stay at home to avoid saturation of hospitals. The celebration of the Lunar New Year, between January 21 and 27, is a cause for concern for Chinese epidemiologists, who warn that the next two waves of infections will occur due to massive displacements during the holidays. While the current wave is mainly affecting large cities, the others will reach rural areas, where health systems are very poor.

With information from El País and AFP