COVID: In Wuhan where the virus was first identified, there is a creeping feeling that more suffering is to come | world News

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In the town where it all began, there is a creeping feeling that more suffering is to come.

Wuhan, the city now known worldwide as the original epicenter of COVID-19, is experiencing a second boom.

It’s been two weeks since COVID restrictions were abruptly and abruptly lifted in China – and what exactly that means in terms of infections and deaths is still unknown.

But three years to the week after the first patient was admitted to a Wuhan hospital with “pneumonia of unknown origin,” people are getting sick again.

In hospitals across the city we saw ambulances lined up to drop people off and patients lined up at fever clinics.

Many of those with symptoms come here for treatment, advice and care.

We saw a woman hooked up to oxygen, a terrified father screaming for help, as he ran with his baby slung over his shoulder to the children’s ward of the fever clinic.

But the vast majority don’t seem too concerned.

In the queue we met Mr. Lee, who had brought his wife as she had COVID and had a high fever.

He knew people who had died of the disease in 2020 when he was tearing through town – he thought and hoped this time would be easier.

“The mentality is different now,” he said, “in the beginning everyone was very afraid.”

Wuhan was the first to deal with the outbreak of the new coronavirus, and no one had any experience.

“People are becoming more aware of COVID and have some psychological resilience.

Image: A medical worker takes a swab sample from a Wuhan resident

“Currently, the infection rate is high, but the death rate is very low,” he added.

But it is impossible to know how high or low it is.

Most infections here are no longer reported, and deaths are so pinpointed that there have been fewer than 20 cases in nearly seven months.

In fact, authorities confirmed on Tuesday that only COVID-19 patients who die of respiratory failure or pneumonia will be counted — and no one with an underlying condition will be counted.

But experts have projected hundreds of thousands of deaths by spring, a million or more in all.

And there are other signs that things are getting serious.

Authorities ‘very concerned’

The crematorium on the outskirts of Wuhan was busy, with family after family arriving, some wearing traditional white scarves, others holding framed photos of their loved ones.

And the authorities were very worried – they made it very difficult to photograph, and two cars of men followed us all day.

Mr. Wang runs a small shop selling funeral decorations, and he talked to us listing what he sold that day.

“I am very busy. This epidemic is lighter than 2020, but it is still more serious than usual,” he said.

“[In 2020] All cremations were handled by the government because there were so many people who died at that time, we couldn’t manage it.

“Now it is not the main cause of people dying from the coronavirus, but the elderly with underlying complications that overwhelm systems, the virus causes underlying disease and leads to death.”

Read more: ‘It is too early to declare the end of the epidemic’ Amid fears of a new wave the rate at which the virus is rising in China will be shrouded in secrecy

But we may never know how widespread those deaths are, the instinct here is to hide.

This was evident in the wet market where many believe the first people were infected.

He is now fully ascended. If you didn’t know it was there, you are sure to miss it.

Most people here just want to get on with their lives, and many take comfort in the knowledge that Omicron is far less dangerous than what struck their city exactly three years ago.

But there are those who believe that China had time to prepare for this moment and did not – the sudden change of direction will bring results.

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