Chinese hospitals and funeral homes are ‘extremely busy’ as COVID spreads unchecked by Health & Fitness Journal

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©Health & Fitness Journal. Medical staff attend to patients in the intensive care unit of the emergency department of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Beijing, China, December 27, 2022. China Daily via REUTERS 2/3

By Martin Quin Pollard

CHENGDU (Health & Fitness Journal) – Chinese hospitals and funeral homes came under intense pressure on Wednesday as a swelling COVID-19 wave drained resources, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts about official data prompted some countries to consider new travel rules for Chinese visitors drag.

In an abrupt policy shift, China this month began dismantling the world’s toughest COVID regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, and set its battered economy on track for a full reopening next year.

The lifting of restrictions, which came after widespread protests against them, means COVID is spreading largely unchecked and is likely to infect millions of people every day, according to some international health experts.

The speed with which China, the last major country in the world to focus on treating the virus as endemic, has scrapped COVID rules has overwhelmed its fragile health system.

China reported three new COVID-related deaths on Tuesday, up from one on Monday – figures that do not agree with funeral home reports and the experience of much less populous countries after they reopened.

Staff at Huaxi, a major hospital in the southwestern city of Chengdu, said they were “extremely busy” with COVID patients.

“I’ve been doing this job for 30 years and this is the busiest I’ve ever encountered,” said an ambulance driver outside the hospital, who declined to be identified.

There were long queues inside and outside the hospital’s emergency room and at an adjacent fever clinic on Tuesday night. Most people who arrived in ambulances were given oxygen to help with their breathing.

“Almost all patients have COVID,” said an emergency room pharmacy worker.

The hospital has no stocks of COVID-specific medicines and can only provide medicines for symptoms like a cough, she said.

The parking lots around Dongjiao Funeral Home, one of the largest in Chengdu, were full. Funeral processions continued as smoke billowed from the crematorium.

“We have to do this about 200 times a day now,” said one funeral director. “We’re so busy we don’t even have time to eat. It’s been like this since opening. Before it was about 30-50 a day.”

“Many have died from COVID,” said another worker.

At another crematorium in Chengdu, the Nanling private crematorium, staff were similarly busy.

“There have been so many deaths from COVID lately,” said one worker. “Cremation slots are all booked. You can only get them in the new year.”

China has said it only counts deaths of COVID patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related.

Zhang Yuhua, an official at Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital, said the youngest patients are elderly and critically ill with underlying conditions. She said the number of patients receiving emergency care has increased from about 100 previously to 450-550 a day, according to state media.

The fever clinic at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing was also “crammed full” of older patients, according to state media.

Nurses and doctors have been asked to work, while sick and retired medical workers in rural communities have been reinstated to help. Some cities are struggling with drug shortages.

TRAVEL RULES

In a big step toward freer travel, China will stop requiring travelers to self-quarantine from January 8, authorities said this week.

Global financial hub Hong Kong also said on Wednesday it would lift most of its last remaining COVID restrictions.

Online searches for flights from China rose from an extremely low level on Tuesday, but local residents and travel agents have suggested a return to something normal would take a few months amid caution for the time being.

Additionally, some governments are considering additional travel requirements for Chinese visitors.

US officials cited “the lack of transparent data” as the reason.

India, Taiwan and Japan would require travelers from mainland China to test negative for COVID-19, while those who tested positive in Japan would have to quarantine for a week. Tokyo also plans to restrict airlines from increasing flights to China.

The Philippines was also considering testing.

ECONOMIC PAIN

China’s $17 trillion economy is expected to suffer a slowdown in factory production and domestic consumption as workers and shoppers fall ill.

News of the reopening of borders pushed global luxury stocks higher, but the reaction was more muted in other corners of the market.

US automaker Tesla (NASDAQ:) is planning a reduced production schedule at its Shanghai plant in January, according to an internal timeline verified by Health & Fitness Journal. It didn’t give a reason.

Once the initial shock of new infections wears off, some economists expect Chinese growth to rebound with a vengeance from what is projected to be the lowest rate in nearly half a century, around 3%, this year.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) economists expect 5.4% growth in 2023, while Goldman Sachs (NYSE:) sees 5.2%.