“We cannot escape”: a Shanghai hospital said it will have a “tragic battle” against the spread of COVID-19 Code List

A Shanghai hospital has asked its staff to prepare for a “tragic battle” against COVID-19, He expects half of the city’s 25 million people to be infected by the end of the year as the virus spreads through China virtually unchecked.

Following widespread protests and a relentless rise in cases, China did a policy reverse this month, beginning to reverse its “zero COVID” policy, which had come at a huge financial and psychological cost to its 1.4 billion people.

Even so, the official death count in China since the pandemic began three years ago stands at 5,241, a fraction of what most other countries have suffered.

On December 21, for the second day in a row, China reported no new deaths from COVID-19, despite the fact that funeral home workers say demand has skyrocketed in the past week, which has caused an increase in rates.

Authorities, who have tightened the criteria for determining COVID-19 deaths, drawing criticism from many disease experts, confirmed 389,306 cases with symptoms. Some experts claim that the official figures have become one unreliable guideas fewer tests are taking place in China following the relaxation of restrictions.

The Shanghai Deji HospitalIn a post on his official WeChat account on Wednesday night, He estimated that there were some 5.43 million positives in the city and that 12.5 million in China’s main commercial node will be infected by the end of the year.

“Christmas Eve, New Year and Lunar New Year this year will not be safe,” the hospital stated.

“In this tragic battle, the entire Greater Shanghai will fall and we will infect the entire hospital staff! We will infect the whole family! We will infect all our patients! We have no choice and we can’t escape”.

Shanghai residents endured a two-month lockdown that ended June 1, with many losing income and lacking access to basic necessities. Hundreds of people died and hundreds of thousands became infected during those two months.

Experts say China could face more than a million deaths from COVID-19 next year, given the relatively low rates of full vaccination among its most vulnerable elderly population.

The vaccination rate in China it exceeds 90%, but that of adults who have received booster doses drops to 57.9% and 42.3% in the case of those over 80 years of age, according to government data.

in a beijing hospitalImages from state television CCTV showed rows of elderly patients in the intensive care unit breathing through oxygen masks. It was not clear how many had COVID-19.

The deputy director of the hospital’s emergency department, Han Xue, told state television CCTV that they were receiving 400 patients a day, four times more than usual. “These patients are all elderly with underlying diseases, fever and respiratory infections and are in a very serious condition,” Han said.

The director of the World Health Organization expressed concern about the rebound in infections and is supporting the Government to focus on vaccinating people at highest risk.

He told reporters the agency needed more detailed information on disease severity, hospital admissions and intensive care unit needs to conduct a comprehensive assessment.

The 180º turn of Chinese politics Caught a fragile healthcare system off guard. Hospitals rushed for beds and blood, pharmacies searched for medicine, and authorities built special clinics.

State media said local governments were trying to deal with the medicine shortagewhile pharmaceutical companies worked overtime to increase supplies.

Cities across the country were distributing millions of ibuprofen tablets to medical institutions and retail pharmacies, according to an article in the state newspaper. global times.

Some Chinese experts predict that the rise of COVID-19 will peak at the end of January and that life will return to normal at the end of February or beginning of March.

(With information from Reuters/By Zoey Zhang and Bernard Orr)

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