Chinese hospitals were under intense pressure on Wednesday as a surge of Covid-19 infections strained medical resources.
The scale of the outbreak and doubts over official data prompted some countries to consider new travel rules on Chinese visitors.
In an abrupt change of policy, China this month began dismantling the world’s strictest Covid regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, putting its battered economy on course for a complete reopening next year.
The lifting of restrictions, which came after widespread protests against them, means Covid is spreading largely unchecked and likely infecting millions of people a day, according to some international health experts.
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The speed at which China, the last major country in the world moving towards treating the virus as endemic, has scrapped Covid rules has left its fragile health system overwhelmed.
China reported three new Covid-related deaths for Tuesday, up from one for Monday – numbers that are inconsistent with the experience of much less populous countries after they reopened.
Staff at Huaxi, a big hospital in the southwestern city of Chengdu, said they were “extremely busy” caring for patients with Covid, as they have been ever since curbs were eased on December 7th.
There were long queues inside and outside the hospital’s emergency department and at an adjacent fever clinic on Tuesday evening. Most of those arriving in ambulances were given oxygen to help with their breathing.
“Almost all of the patients have Covid,” one emergency department pharmacy staff member said.
The hospital has no stocks of Covid-specific medicine and can only provide drugs for symptoms such as coughing, she said.
An official at the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, said most recent patients were elderly and critically ill with underlying diseases.
She said the number of patients receiving emergency care had increased to 450-550 per day, from about 100 before, according to state media.
The China-Japan Friendship Hospital’s fever clinic in Beijing was also “packed” with older patients, state media reported.
Nurses and doctors have been asked to work while sick and retired medical workers in rural communities were being rehired to help. Some cities have been struggling to secure supplies of anti-fever drugs.
Pictures published by state-run China Daily showed rows of mostly elderly patients, some breathing through oxygen tubes, receiving treatment from medical staff in white hazmat suits in the hospital's intensive care unit.
In a major step towards freer travel, China will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine from January 8th, authorities said this week.
However, some governments are considering extra travel requirements for Chinese visitors.
US officials cited “the lack of transparent data, including viral genomic sequence data” as reasons for doing so.
India and Japan would require a negative Covid test for travellers from mainland China, with those testing positive in Japan having to undergo a week in quarantine. Tokyo also plans to limit airlines increasing flights to China.
The Philippines should be “very cautious” when receiving inbound travellers from China, its transportation minister said on Wednesday, adding the country was considering imposing testing requirements. – Reuters