Officials said on Monday that the number of covid cases is rising rapidly in the capital of China as the country quickly moves away from its zero-tolerance coronavirus strategy.
More than 22,000 patients had reportedly visited hospitals across the city in the previous day, 16 times more than a week earlier, according to Beijing authorities, just a few days after China began to loosen restrictions.
At a briefing on Monday, Li Ang, spokesman for the city health commission, stated, “The current trend of the rapid spread of the epidemic in Beijing still exists.”
“The number of fever clinic visits, cases of influenza-like symptoms, and […] emergency calls increased sharply.”
On Monday, China reported 8,626 domestic infections, though the actual number is likely much higher given that most people no longer require testing.
As the nation guides a precarious way out of its zero-Coronavirus strategy towards residing with the infection, numerous with side effects have selected to self-sedate at home.
Rapid antigen tests are decreasing as people stock up in anticipation of a virus surge that poses a threat to the lives of millions of elderly people who have not been vaccinated. Cold and fever medications have sold out in virtually all Beijing pharmacies.
Social media users reported an increase in infections in smaller cities like Baoding in the province of Hebei and Dazhou in Sichuan, where hospitals were overwhelmed and residents were unable to purchase medicines.
The claims were not immediately verified by AFP.
On the social media site Weibo, which is similar to Twitter, one person wrote, “It’s really serious, the supply of medicine is not enough, and it’s being managed poorly.”
China’s rural interior is particularly susceptible to health crises like Covid because it lacks adequate primary care triage and medical infrastructure.
‘End of an era’
China announced on Monday that it would discontinue an application that was used to track travel to infected areas, a significant step toward lifting years of stringent restrictions.
One of the most important parts of zero-Covid was the state-run “Communications Itinerary Card,” which used phone signal data to track the movements of millions of people.
Throughout the pandemic, a variety of tracking apps have governed daily life. The majority of people still enter offices and shops using local “health codes” administered by their city or province.
Users of social media celebrated the software’s demise, noting that the government’s decision to shut down its primary tracking app was symbolic.
On Weibo, one person wrote, “Bye bye, this announces the end of an era and also welcomes a brand new one.”
Others hoped that the mountains of data would be deleted and inquired about what would become of them.
Spreading quickly
According to Trivium China’s tech partner Kendra Schaefer, the “political win of returning to normalcy is gigantic.”
However, because of this normalcy, the nation faces an increase in cases for which it is unprepared, as millions of elderly people have not been fully vaccinated and underfunded hospitals lack the capacity to handle a large number of patients.
Last week, Jiao Yahui, director of the Department of Medical Affairs at the National Health Commission, warned that China has one intensive care unit bed for every 10,000 people.
The authority number of Coronavirus cases has dropped forcefully from an untouched high recorded last month however top Chinese wellbeing master Zhong Nanshan cautioned in state media on Sunday that the Omicron variation was “spreading quickly”.
State broadcaster CCTV stated on Monday that flights from Beijing’s two main airports were anticipated to soon return to levels that were 70% of 2019 as a result of the easing of restrictions.
