by Beijing municipal officials said in a briefing on Monday that 22,000 patients visited fever clinics the day before, 16 times the daily average a week ago.
“Hospitals have borne the brunt of zero covid and are now overwhelmed by an unprecedented epidemic,” said Yan, an eye surgeon in Beijing who revealed only her last name because she was not authorized to speak to the media. More than half of her hospital staff tested positive last week.
“Patients visiting the fever clinic have grown several times since last week, and it’s likely to go on for weeks or even months longer,” he said.
A surge in cases is likely to overwhelm China’s health care system, which has focused on contact tracing and quarantines rather than capacity building for coronavirus outbreaks over the past three years. China has 4.5 intensive care unit beds per 100,000 people, according to government data, and its latest ambition to double its intensive care unit capacity by the end of December is proving harder to achieve than anticipated .
The National Health Commission launched an initiative on Sunday to ensure major county-level hospitals are stocked with medical supplies and critical care equipment. Hospitals have been ordered to expand their staff by 20 to 30 percent and set up an infectious disease ward by the end of December.
The commission said on Friday it would ensure 90% of rural hospitals have fever clinics, while temporary quarantine centres, known as fangcang, will be converted into hospitals.
China recorded 8,838 positive tests on Sunday, a figure residents say does not reflect the true scale of infections as centralized testing, the only way to identify new infections, has been removed. A contact tracing app that monitors the movements of residents will cease functioning as of Tuesday and all user data will be deleted.
Cities pleaded with residents not to call 911 unless their symptoms were severe, while community and rural clinics complained they were understaffed, according to local media reports. Panicked residents are stockpiling antigen tests and medications.
Karen Bai, 36, who lives in Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, had a fever for three days but could not get any tests at home. She suffers from a blood disease, she is immunocompromised and her doctor has advised her to stay away from hospitals.
“So many patients have covid but don’t know it,” she said. “Everyone said life will go back to normal, but it’s gone from bad to worse for me.”
China’s pursuit of zero covid has led to a low level of natural immunity among the public, leaving the population vulnerable. Authorities are particularly focused on protecting the elderly, who have lower vaccination rates and are the target of an ongoing vaccination campaign. Zhong Wenhong, a Shanghai-based infectious disease expert, advised elderly residents to refrain from group activities such as dancing in public squares or playing mah-jongg for at least a month.
Caixin reported earlier this month that China aims to vaccinate 90% of people aged 80 and over with at least the first shot, but officials have refrained from announcing a specific target given hesitation. among the elderly to be vaccinated. Only 40% of Chinese over the age of 80 have received a booster shot, despite months of campaigns and gifts to encourage adoption.
Last week, government adviser Feng Zijian, a former National Health Commission official, predicted that 60% of the population could be infected by the first wave of infections. Authorities expect a surge in cases around the Lunar New Year in late January.
China’s coronavirus cases could peak in a month, but it’s “more complicated” to predict when the epidemic will end, experts said.
“In the short term, as severe cases increase, there will be a massive demand for intensive care resources,” Zhang Ming, deputy head of the intensive care unit at Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital, told the Yicai Financial Daily, adding that larger hospitals in larger towns and cities tend to be better prepared, but he “can’t speak for the situation in general.”
Amid fear of the virus and after more than two years of mainstream media warnings of its dangers, misinformation has spread, with residents buying canned peaches after rumors they would prevent contagion and experts assessing whether people more beautiful are less likely to contract it.
However, residents say they welcome the opening. “It’s a risk worth taking,” said Yan, the Beijing doctor. “Had the lockdown continued, more people would have died of poverty and hunger even if they remained covid-free.”
