A senior doctor at one of Shanghai’s largest hospitals is sounding the alarm about surging cases of COVID-19 in China – with up to 70% of the city’s population estimated to have been infected.
Chen Erzhen, vice president of Ruijin Hospital and a member of Shanghai’s COVID Expert Advisory Committee, estimates that at least 70% of the megacity’s 25 million residents have been infected. After easing the country’s “COVID-free” policies.
He said to Dajiangdong Studio, which is owned by the state-run People’s Daily.
As a result, he warned, hospitals in China are under great pressure.
Erzin said his hospital saw a staggering 1,600 emergency cases each day — double what it was before restrictions were lifted — with eight out of 10 patients with coronavirus.
“More than 100 ambulances arrive at the hospital every day,” the doctor said, adding that half of them are high-risk patients over the age of 65.
Realistic shots It was filmed on Monday at Zhongshang Hospital In Shanghai, patients are shown lying on beds outside the entrance to an emergency department as they struggle to deal with a surge in COVID-19 infections.
Even other Chinese hospitals were They were forced to turn away ambulances and seriously ill patients.
Emergency rooms in smaller cities and towns outside of Beijing Swarmed with patientson benches and lying on the floor due to lack of beds.
Condolence homes are also on the brink. Numerous videos shared online show huge queues outside various Chinese funeral parlors as families desperate to book crematorium appointments.
Relatives wait outside Yinheyuan Funeral Home in Guangzhou last Thursday In an interview with Radio Free Asia that they had to leave the body of a deceased family member at home to stand in line – because the funeral home could not be reached by phone.
Other footage from the Babaoshan Funeral Home in Beijing shows lines of cars marked “Jing Funeral” waiting outside an entrance.
Funeral parlors have been forced to conduct cremations 24 hours a day to keep up with the surge in demand, Radio Free Asia reported.
China abruptly pulled out Its strict “zero COVID” controls on December 7 – without officially abandoning politics altogether – in the wake of widespread protests.
The demonstrations represent the largest public display of opposition against the ruling Communist Party in more than 30 years.
Under the very strict rules, a single positive case could lead to a widespread and prolonged lockdown of entire cities.
Officials have also erected massive barriers and fences around entire neighborhoods to prevent the spread of the virus.
Residents who test positive for COVID-19 may also be forced into a government-supervised quarantine facility.
With the reversal of the zero-COVID situation and the spread of the Omicron variant, infections in Shanghai, China’s largest city, are expected to peak early this year.
Chinese health officials have indicated that other major cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Guangzhou have already seen their peaks.
Chinese officials have also warned that a wave could hit more rural areas as millions of people plan to return to their hometowns for the week-long Lunar New Year celebrations that begin on January 22.
Jiao Yahui, an official with the National Health Commission, said the holiday would be a “huge challenge” because people had not gone home to celebrate since before the pandemic.
“What worries us most is that in the past three years, no one has returned home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, but this year they finally managed,” Jiao said.
As a result, there may be a retaliatory wave of urban residents to the countryside to visit their relatives, so we are more concerned about the rural epidemic. “
More than a dozen countries have imposed COVID testing requirements on passengers arriving from China, including the United States, which will implement the rule starting January 5.
with wire