Morgues overwhelmed: why China’s new Covid crisis is all of its own making
- Fever medicine is in short supply, hospitals are swamped, the death toll is soaring among the elderly, and morgues are overwhelmed with bodies
- Beijing has had nearly three years to prepare for pandemic controls to be lifted and learn from other countries – so how has it messed this up?
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Inside an overcrowded Beijing hospital struggling with Covid surge in China
They have also tried to reshape public perception of the virus – until last month labelled serious and deadly in the official narrative to justify zero-Covid – by stressing that the latest Omicron variants may be highly contagious but the symptoms they cause are mild.
Moreover, they have tried to give the impression that the abrupt reopening in the middle of winter, when respiratory viral infections usually peak, was planned and thought out.
Alas, the reality could not be more starkly different – fever medicine in short supply, hospitals and emergency services swamped, an acute blood shortage in many cities, the death toll soaring among the elderly, and morgues and funeral parlours overwhelmed with bodies.
In a word, China is woefully underprepared for the chaos that is inevitably unfolding since the controls were lifted, as seen in other countries.
So here’s the question: since China has had nearly three years to learn from other countries and prepare for reopening, how has it messed this up?
