December 29, 2022
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According to information from the Asian nation, hospitals in China are under intense pressure as the number of patients with Covid19 admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) increases.
In early December, the Beijing government announced an easing of its zeroCovid policy up until then the most rigid in the world and began suspending mandatory lockdowns and extensive testing programs after a series of popular protests against it.
With the end of mandatory testing, it has become impossible to monitor new cases in the country, while Chinese authorities have made it difficult to count deaths from Covid by only counting deaths caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure in this category became.
In a report leaked to the press by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCD), officials estimate that around 250 million people were infected in the first 20 days of December.
However, the National Health Commission (CNS) of China has reclassified Covid19, which until then was considered a type A disease, to a type B disease that is, one that generally poses no threat to the lives of healthy people. She also announced on Sunday (December 25) that she would no longer publish case numbers.
The lack of official information has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) and some governments to demand more transparency from Beijing about new cases, their severity and the number of hospital admissions.
1. What is known so far?
The overall picture is not very clear. In addition to the censorship in the media, the government has decided not to disclose the number of new infections.
Foreign media rely on testimonials, photos and videos posted by users in China on social media for their coverage.
In some recent we see alarming scenes in hospital emergency rooms, with patients many of them elderly lying on stretchers and crowding the corridors while awaiting a diagnosis or admission.
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Many patients have to wait in the hallways until they can be seen
A journalist from the American newspaper The Washington Post took a video showing patients crammed into aisle after aisle with family members standing next to them, making it difficult for them to pass.
This close contact between Covid patients and supposedly uninfected people could trigger cases.
According to the American newspaper, Chinese state media reported that the emergency department of Zhongshan Hospital, one of China’s main hospitals, treats about 1,000 patients a day, up by between 700 and 800 from the same time last year.
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Covid tests are no longer mandatory in China
When the Chinese government decided to lift strict restrictions to control the disease, outbreaks were already increasing. Since then, however, infections have skyrocketed, raising the prospect of a high mortality rate among the elderly.
The National Health Commission recently asked hospitals to bring in retired health workers to help with the spate of cases and to replace doctors and nurses who have been infected with Covid.
There is also concern that many hospitals are no longer stocking certain drugs to treat Covid and are only offering drugs for certain symptoms such as cough, a pharmacy worker at a hospital in the city of Chengdu told The Strait Times in Asia.
China also left a lot to be desired in its Covid vaccination program. And the vaccines it develops and produces are believed to be less effective at protecting against serious infections than the mRNA vaccines used in the rest of the world.
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A shortage of medicines to treat Covid is being reported and hospitals are only distributing medicines such as ibuprofen to treat symptoms.
2. How many cases and deaths are there?
The actual number of Covid infections and related deaths is unknown as authorities have stopped publishing the data. The decision was announced by the National Health Commission last Sunday.
“Covid19related information is released by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and research purposes,” the CNS said in a statement, without giving further details.
Before this decision was made, the Beijing government was reporting about 4,000 new cases and few deaths every day.
The low number of deaths recorded may be due to the new way authorities classify deaths from Covid, attributing them only to those caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure.
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The large number of bodies arriving at the crematoria does not correspond to the official number of Covid deaths in China
In the report leaked to the press by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, authorities estimate that nearly 250 million people were infected with Covid19 in the first 20 days of December after the strict restrictions imposed since 2020 to control the disease were eased had been .
The figures were revealed by Sun Yang, deputy director of the CCD, in a closed meeting on Dec. 21, the people who leaked the information, according to the British newspaper Financial Times.
Sun Yang claimed that his calculations included 37 million infected people on December 20 alone, adding that the rate of spread of Covid continues to increase and estimated that more than half the population of Beijing and Sichuan was already infected.
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Critics say China is not transparent with information about the disease
A few days later, in an unusual report published by a Chinese Communist Partycontrolled newspaper, the health director of the city of Quigdao, which has a population of about 10 million, said they were registering up to half a million new cases a day.
The unprecedented revelation that the wave of infections was not reflected in official statistics was quickly censored and rereleased without the figures.
Health experts predict China will see at least 1 million deaths from Covid in 2023. Airfinity, a UK website specializing in the pandemic, estimates it could surpass two million.
3. What do WHO and the international community say?
The WHO expressed “great concern” about the development of the situation in China and about the information pointing to an increase in serious cases of infection.
WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had asked China to share data on the severity of the disease, hospitalizations and the capacity of its intensive care units.
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The WHO calls for a comprehensive assessment of the situation
In his statement, Tedros insisted that China should conduct the requested investigations to arrive at a full risk assessment of the situation on the ground.
He also said WHO will continue to support China to focus its efforts on vaccinating the most vulnerable across the country.
WHO’s emergency program director Mike Ryan said they would urge China to import mRNA vaccines like Moderna and BioNTech, which have been shown to be more effective against Covid19.
However, China has not yet approved the use of these vaccines among its population.
Less than half an hour after the announcement, web searches for trips to the most popular travel destinations increased tenfold compared to last year.
But Chinese tourists will not have free access to all countries.
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Demand for travel to the hottest destinations soared after borders reopened
US authorities announced on Wednesday (12/28) that all passengers from China, Hong Kong and Macau must present a negative Covid test to enter the country in a bid to “slow down” the spread of the virus.
Japan, a popular destination for Chinese tourists, has said it will also require negative Covid tests on arrival or undergo a sevenday quarantine.
Malaysia, Taiwan and India have also announced restrictions, and other countries are considering doing the same.