The crisis is unfolding on the Beijing wards – many of them lining the hospital floor. | world News

[ad_1]

A crisis unfolds in Beijing’s hospitals.

Inside Chaoyang East Hospital, patients infected with the coronavirus fill the wards. Almost everyone is old and only the lucky ones have a family. Many more line the hospital floor.

This is clearly a place where the virus is spreading, and the system is straining.

Image: A patient is transported to Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing

Signs of crisis are also showing outside the hospital, with frequent ambulances arriving as well as patients brought in in wheelchairs.

As families desperately try to get beds for their sick relatives, one of the families who arrived at the hospital told Sky News: “We’ve waited at least 10 days. Almost everyone inside is old and injured.”

Previously running a COVID-free policy, over the past 3 weeks almost every restriction has been removed.

People no longer need to scan public spaces with health codes, get tested regularly, or go to a quarantine facility when they become infected. Business visas are also slated to be eased.

The result was quick, as more than 50% of Beijing’s population is believed to have been infected.

China has a large population with low levels of immunity, and an under-resourced hospital system with not enough intensive care beds. Combined, this means that the health care system is under tremendous stress.

While official figures say very few people died, the reality is distinctly different.

Read more: China ends quarantine of international arrivals due to coronavirus

Please use the Chrome browser for an easily accessible video player

2:44 China is hiding COVID deaths

“They’re all lying on the beds. Every day people die. The corridor is full of people with IV drips,” said a cleaner, speaking to Sky News during a short break from his shift.

Now, with restrictions lifted, experts say there is no going back.

Photo: Professor Dali Yang

Professor Dali Yang, a COVID-19 expert, told Sky News: “China has really adopted a completely different strategy, with the same unprecedented enthusiasm and enthusiasm of COVID.

“The criticism of the current approach is that the authorities would have had time to prepare – they could have educated the public, they could have taken more action, including providing essential fever reducers.”

Clearly, reopening China without testing and rules is a relief to many, but it comes quickly — and that comes at a cost.

[ad_2]