Crisis in China due to regrowth; the world is prevented by fear

Chengdu, China. Hospitals and funeral homes in China are under intense pressure from the Covid-19 surge, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts about official data have led some countries to consider new rules for visitors from the Asian nation. .

In a shift in strategy, China this month began dismantling the world’s strictest anti-Covid regime of extensive lockdowns and tests, putting its economy on track for a full reopening next year.

The lifting of the restrictions, which came after widespread protests against them, has meant that covid is spreading largely unchecked and is likely to infect millions of people a day, according to some experts.

Countries like the United States, India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan will require covid tests for travelers from China.

The speed with which China, the last major country in the world to move towards treating the virus as endemic, has scrapped covid rules that have overwhelmed its fragile healthcare system.

China’s overall vaccination rate is over 90%, but the number of adults who have received a booster drops to 57.9%, and 42.3% for those over 80, according to government data last week.

The country has nine nationally manufactured covid vaccines approved for use, but none have been updated to deal with the omicron variant, which is highly infectious.

data is not clear

China reported three new covid-related deaths on Tuesday, up from one on Monday, figures that do not tally with what funeral homes are reporting, nor with the experience of less-populated countries after they reopened.

Staff at Huaxi, a large hospital in the southwestern city of Chengdu, said they were “extremely busy” treating covid patients.

On Tuesday afternoon there were long lines in and out of the hospital’s emergency department and an adjacent fever clinic. Most of those arriving by ambulance received oxygen to help them breathe.

Nurses and doctors have been asked to work while sick and retired medical workers from rural communities were being reinstated to help. Some cities have had trouble getting supplies of anti-fever medicine.