China’s COVID-19 outbreak has reached a position where the hospitals are filling up rapidly and the dead bodies are accumulating as the number of infected patients is rapidly rising. Although on the surface, the number of new cases has fallen, the ground reality is telling a different story of China. The World Health Organization said that the hospitals in China are rapidly filling in with the constant influx of patients suffering from coronavirus infection, which has increased the possibility of a fresh new wave of COVID-19 infection in the country. On the other hand, Chinese officials are saying that the numbers of new cases arising are significantly low. The officials are actively hiding the actual death count which is making it harder to assess the actual impact of the current COVID-19 outbreak.
According to the official statistics, the surge in coronavirus infection cases in China started at the end of November and reached its peak on December 2. But the panic surrounding the rise in the number of cases started to increase after December 2. Since then, the hospitals in China are experiencing a massive shortage of healthcare workers compared to the influx of new patients. Along with this, hospitals and pharmacies are also facing a shortage of fever and cold medications as people are rushing to get these medications for treating their symptoms. The doctors and hospital staff are even working after being infected. According to the official orders, doctors and nurses have been called to work if they are asymptomatic or have mold symptoms. These events explain the current condition of the country's healthcare system in managing the current outbreak. Amid all this, the researchers have also proposed the possibility of observing another mutation with the coronavirus, which is expected to worsen these conditions even more. The WHO said on its Twitter handle that the agency has been requesting data related to the current outbreak and is suggesting China carry out certain studies to estimate the seriousness of current and previous outbreaks in the country.
The outbreak started after China softened many of the stringent guidelines applied under its Zero CVOID policy to calm the ongoing protests across the country regarding people’s freedom. As soon as these restrictions were lifted, the number of new cases of COVID-19 skyrocketed and people started to rush to the nearest hospitals to seek medical help. Beijing became the center of this outbreak as the city reported the highest surge in COVID-19 cases. This influx of patients to the hospitals resulted due to the fear of facing lockdown restrictions once again for which the people of China had protested. The fear of catching coronavirus infection and the higher threat of death to elderly patients has exerted exponential stress on the healthcare system of China, thus creating problems for healthcare workers as well as the general public. Dr. Ryan, the WHO emergencies chief, said that even though the number of cases in China is low in China, the ICUs in the country are still getting filled, which does not explain things clearly.
