rising tide
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday that despite a record jump in cases nationwide, China reported no COVID deaths on the mainland for six days through Sunday, even as Cremation grounds also faced increased demand.
China has narrowed its definition to classify COVID-related deaths, including only COVID-borne pneumonia or respiratory failure, raising eyebrows among world health experts.
The country’s health care system is under heavy strain, with sick and retired medical staff in rural communities being asked to work, according to state media.
The provincial government of Zhejiang, a large industrial province near Shanghai with a population of 65.4 million, said on Sunday it was grappling with nearly a million new daily COVID-19 infections, which are expected to double in the coming days.
State media reported that health officials in southeastern Jiangxi province said infections would reach a peak in early January, adding that there could be other peaks as people travel for Lunar New Year celebrations next month.
He warned that the infection wave would last for three months and that some 80% of the province’s 45 million residents could be infected.
The city of Qingdao in eastern Shandong province estimated that 530,000 residents were being infected daily.
Cities across China are racing to add hospitals, intensive care units and fever clinics, facilities designed to prevent the widespread spread of the infectious disease.
State media said the Beijing municipal government said the number of fever clinics in the city had increased from 94 to nearly 1,300. There are 2,600 such clinics in Shanghai and doctors from less-stressed medical departments have been transferred to help.
Concerns remain about the ability of less-affluent cities in China to deal with a surge in serious infections, especially as millions of rural migrant workers are expected to return to their families for the Lunar New Year.
