By Martin Quin Pollard
CHENGDUChina, December 28 – Chinese hospitals and funeral homes came under severe pressure on Wednesday due to the surge COVID-19 was running out of resources, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts about official data led some countries to consider new rules for visitors from China.
In an abrupt reversal of strategy, China this month began dismantling the toughest regime in the world COVIDconsisting of extensive lockdowns and tests, putting its battered economy on track for a full reopening next year.
The lifting of the restrictions, which took place after widespread protests against them, meant that the COVID It is spreading largely out of control and is likely to infect millions of people a day, according to some international health experts.
Countries such as India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan have said they will require proof COVID to travelers from China.
The speed with which China, the latest major country in the world to move towards treating the virus as endemic, removed rules on COVID it has overwhelmed its fragile health care system.
China’s overall vaccination rate is over 90%, but the number of adults who received a booster drop to 57.9% and 42.3% for those over 80, according to Chinese government data last week.
The country has nine vaccines against COVID domestically produced ones approved for use, but none have been updated to handle the omicron variant, which is highly infectious.
China has reported three new deaths linked to the COVID on Tuesday, compared to that of Monday, data that do not agree with what the funeral homes report, nor with the experience of much less populated countries after their reopening.
Beijing said it only registers in relation to the COVID patient deaths caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure.
Staff at Huaxi, a large hospital in the southwestern city of Chengdu, said they were “extremely busy” treating patients from COVID.
“I’ve been doing this job for 30 years and this is the most demanding job I’ve ever known,” said an ambulance driver outside the hospital who declined to be named.
There were long lines in and out of the hospital emergency room and an adjacent fever clinic on Tuesday afternoon. Most of those who arrived by ambulance were given oxygen to help them breathe.
“Almost all patients have COVIDsaid an emergency room pharmacy staff member.
The hospital has no stocks of specific drugs for the COVID and can only provide medication for symptoms such as coughs, he added.
The parking lots around the Dongjiao Funeral Home, one of the largest in Chengdu, were full. Funeral processions followed one another as smoke billowed from the crematorium.
“Now we have to do this about 200 times a day,” said one funeral home. “We are so busy that we don’t even have time to eat.” This has been like this since the opening. Previously it was around 30-50 a day.”
“Many died of it COVID“says another worker.
At another crematorium in Chengdu, the private Nanling, staff were equally busy.
“There have been a lot of deaths lately from COVIDa worker said. “The cremation stands are all occupied. You can’t have one until the new year, maybe January 3 at the earliest.”
Zhang Yuhua, a senior official at Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital, said most of the recent patients were elderly and seriously ill with underlying diseases. He said the number of patients being treated urgently had risen to 450-550 a day, up from 100 previously, according to state media.
The fever clinic at Beijing’s China-Japan Friendship Hospital was also “overcrowded” with elderly patients, state media reported.
Nurses and doctors were asked to work as sick and retired health workers from rural communities were reinstated to help. Some cities have had difficulty getting supplies of fever medicines.
STANDARD FROM TO TRAVEL
In an important step toward greater travel freedom, China will stop requiring incoming travelers to quarantine from January 8, authorities said this week.
Hong Kong, the world’s financial center, also said Wednesday it would lift most restrictions. COVID that he was gone
Internet searches for flights out of China surged on Tuesday from extremely low levels, but residents and travel agencies have suggested it could take a few months to get back to normal.
Additionally, some governments were considering imposing additional travel requirements on Chinese visitors. The US authorities cited “the lack of transparent data” as the reason.
Italy, which was the first European country hit hard by the coronavirus in February 2020 after its appearance in China, has become the first in Europe to impose mandatory tests on travelers from the Asian country, to cope with the new wave of infections . .
Milan’s main airport, Malpensa, began testing passengers from Beijing and Shanghai on December 26, and the results showed nearly one in two passengers was infected.
For their part, India and Japan would need proof COVID negative to travelers from mainland China, and those who tested positive in Japan would have to spend a week in quarantine. Tokyo also plans to limit the increase in flights to China by airlines.
The Philippines is also considering imposing tests.”
China’s $17 trillion economy is expected to experience a slowdown in industrial production and domestic consumption due to sickness of workers and shoppers.
Once the initial shock of new infections has passed, Morgan Stanley economists expect growth of 5.4% in 2023, while those of Goldman Sachs 5.2%.
