Doctors told Reuters about the overcrowding of hospitals in China due to COVID-19

China's hospitals and funeral homes have faced heavy workloads since the authorities lifted tough anti-coronavirus restrictions, REUTERS reported, citing local sources.

Staff at a major hospital in southwest China's city of Chengdu, Sichuan province, said they were "extremely busy" caring for covid-19 patients . The ambulance driver, who declined to be named, said he was the busiest in 30 years.

Long queues lined up inside and outside the hospital's emergency room, with most patients in ambulances being given oxygen, Reuters notes. "Almost all patients have COVID-19," one of the department's pharmacy staff told the agency.

Car parks at the Dongjiao Funeral Home, Chengdu's largest, are also overcrowded, Reuters said. According to one of the employees, they have to cremate about 200 people a day, compared to 30-50 previously. “We are so busy that we don’t even have time to eat,” he complained. “Many have died from COVID-19,” another employee explained.

“The cremation sites are fully booked. There are no free ones until the new year, ”said a worker from another funeral home in the city. He also stated that "there have been so many deaths from covid lately."

CHINAdecided to cancel the mandatory COVID test when entering the country Society

Since 2020, the Chinese authorities have adhered to a “zero tolerance” policy for the CORONAVIRUS, which implies strict restrictions and the possibility of introducing quarantines that could cover entire cities or areas. Against this background, protests began in the country in 2022. After that, the National HEALTH Commission agreed to ease the restrictions - in particular, the time of home quarantine for those in contact with the sick was reduced to three days.

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The abrupt lifting of restrictions led to a new outbreak of the disease: in December, nearly 250 million people in China, 18% of the country's population, were infected with COVID-19, BLOOMBERG reported, citing data from the National Health Commission, which were discussed at a closed meeting. In just one day on December 20, 37 million people were infected with the coronavirus.

The National Health Commission has stopped publishing daily reports on the number of cases. According to official data for the last day of publications, December 23, 3761 new cases of coronavirus were detected in the country on December 22, and the total number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic has reached 393 thousand people.

December 29, 11:00 Moscow time Coronavirus Russia Moscow World +6146 (per day) 21.8 million Infected 0 +56 (per day) 393.6 thousand Died +1661 (per day) 3.3 million Infected 0 +15 ( per day) 47.5 thousand Died +601601 (per day) 658.9 million Infected 0 +2476 (per day) 6.7 million Died Source: JHU, federal and regional operational headquarters for combating the virus Read more