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In China, Beijing did not officially record new deaths from viral pneumonia this week. But with the sudden lifting of sanitary restrictions, the first wave of Covid in the Chinese capital has turned into a tsunami. As infections rise, “fever clinics” are opening in gyms and crematoriums are overflowing.
With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde
Ambulances going back and forth between hospitals and funeral homes, reports the Financial Times; hearses waiting outside funeral homes, says Radio Free Asia (RFA): It is difficult to know if these deaths are directly related to Covid. The truth is that funeral homes in the capital and several cities in Hebei province, including Shijiazhuang, are overwhelmed.
The queue in front of the Shijazhuang crematorium.
overflowing funeral homes
The crematorium ovens work 24 hours a day. There is no time for cremation until the night of December 21, says an employee at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. The same answer is given by the Tian Shun Xiang funeral services company in Beijing.
“The funeral companies have reserved all the places, so we are not accepting more people at the moment,” says an employee of Tian Shun Xiang. “This also applies to the deceased who have to be treated urgently. We have reached our maximum capacity. Normally it is not like that, but right now we are full ”, he adds.
The message from the authorities is reassuring. According to Zhong Nanshan, a central figure in the fight against Covid, the pathologies linked to the Omicron variant can no longer be described as a new coronary disease and are now similar to the flu.
A serious flu, many netizens point out: some believe that the influx to hospitals is related to the fact that China has opened up too quickly, after three years of “covid zero” policy. Others humorously comment that “at least now we have the freedom to go to the hospital!
Another day with more videos on Chinese social media of overcrowded hospitals and patients waiting at fever clinics. There are those saying it’s all because China opened up too fast. Others are happy that lockdowns are over: “At least you now have the freedom to go to the hospital!” pic.twitter.com/qpAfSuXbsu
—Manya Koetse (@manyapan) December 16, 2022
“Another day with more videos on Chinese social media of overcrowded hospitals and patients waiting in fever clinics. Some say it’s all because China opened up too quickly. Others are glad the lockdowns are over: ‘Whoa! At least now you’re free to go to the hospital!'”
The number of “fever clinics” has risen from 94 to 303 in the capital, according to the Municipal Health Commission, and a new 400-bed field hospital for Covid patients has just opened in a gymnasium in the greater Chaoyang district. And the capital has nothing to envy in terms of health infrastructure.
In a directive issued on Friday, December 16, the State Council’s Epidemic Prevention and Control Mechanism urged local governments and rural hospitals to prepare for the Covid-19 tsunami as millions of Chinese are expected to travel to spend the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January.
Modeling an epidemic is always very difficult, but if the virus continues to circulate unhindered in China, pessimists predict that this first Covid tsunami could kill up to 1.5 million people, according to figures published by The Economist.
