China's stretched health system braces for peak in COVID infections - Reuters

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 23 (Reuters) - China is expecting a highest successful COVID-19 infections wrong a week, a wellness authoritative said, with authorities predicting other strain connected the country's wellness strategy adjacent arsenic they downplay the disease's severity and proceed to study nary caller deaths.

In the look of a surging outbreak and wide protests against its "zero-COVID" authorities of lockdowns and testing, China began dismantling it this month, becoming the past large state to determination towards surviving with the virus.

Its containment measures had slowed the system to its lowest maturation complaint successful astir fractional a century, jamming planetary proviso chains and trade. As Chinese workers progressively autumn ill, much disruption is expected successful the abbreviated word earlier the system bounces backmost aboriginal adjacent year.

China reported little than 4,000 caller symptomatic section COVID cases nationwide for Dec. 22, and nary caller COVID deaths for a 3rd consecutive day. Authorities person narrowed the criteria for COVID deaths, prompting criticism from galore illness experts.

Zhang Wenhong, manager of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, was quoted successful Shanghai government-backed quality outlet The Paper connected Thursday arsenic saying China "is expected to scope the highest of infections wrong a week."

"The highest corruption volition besides summation the complaint of terrible disease, which volition person a definite interaction connected our full aesculapian resources,” helium said, adding the question volition past different 1 oregon 2 months aft that.

"We indispensable beryllium mentally prepared that corruption is inevitable."

Nevertheless, Zhang said helium had visited nursing homes astir Shanghai, noticing the fig of aged dealing with terrible symptoms was low.

Worries implicit the near-term interaction of China's COVID question pushed banal markets successful China (.SSEC), Hong Kong (.HSI) and elsewhere successful Asia lower. The yuan besides weakened.

Infections successful China are apt to beryllium much than a cardinal a time with deaths astatine much than 5,000 a day, a "stark contrast" from authoritative data, British-based wellness information steadfast Airfinity said this week.

A Shanghai infirmary has estimated fractional of the commercialized hub's 25 cardinal radical would get infected by the extremity of adjacent week. Experts accidental China could look much than a cardinal COVID deaths adjacent year.

UNPREPARED

China's abrupt alteration successful argumentation caught a fragile wellness strategy unprepared, with hospitals scrambling for beds and blood, pharmacies for drugs and authorities racing to physique clinics.

More than a twelve planetary wellness experts, epidemiologists, residents and governmental analysts interviewed by Reuters identified the failure to vaccinate the aged and pass an exit strategy to the public, arsenic good arsenic excessive absorption connected eliminating the virus, arsenic causes of the strain connected China's aesculapian infrastructure.

A thrust to vaccinate the aged that began 3 weeks agone has yet to carnivore fruit. China's wide vaccination complaint is supra 90% but the complaint for adults who person had booster shots drops to 57.9%, and to 42.3% for radical aged 80 and older, according to authorities data.

China spent large connected quarantine and investigating facilities implicit the past 3 years alternatively than bolstering hospitals and clinics and grooming aesculapian staff, these radical said.

"There is an unthinkable deficiency of mentation for the microorganism coming contempt them having ... ample warning," said Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious diseases doc astatine Rophi Clinic successful Singapore.

China's National Health Commission did not respond to requests for remark connected the criticisms.

The state has 9 domestically developed COVID shots approved for use, each seen arsenic little effectual than Western-made vaccines that usage the caller mRNA technology.

A shipment of 11,500 BioNTech (22UAy.DE) mRNA vaccines for German nationals successful China have arrived astatine the German embassy successful Beijing, an embassy spokesperson told Reuters connected Friday.

The embassy hopes the archetypal doses volition beryllium fixed retired "as soon arsenic possible", the spokesperson said.

NO DATA

The World Health Organization has received no data from China connected caller COVID hospitalizations since Beijing lifted its zero-COVID policy. The WHO has said gaps successful information mightiness beryllium owed to Chinese authorities simply struggling to tally cases.

Amid mounting doubts astir Beijing's statistics, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken connected Thursday said each countries, including China, request to share information connected their experiences with COVID.

As COVID rages done China, residents who antecedently faced agelong periods of isolation are present learning to unrecorded with the virus.

Chinese teacher Yang Zengdong, whose full household is isolating successful their downtown Shanghai apartment, mildly sick with COVID, welcomes the change successful policy. Only weeks ago, they would person each been sent to a quarantine facility, and their gathering would person been locked down.

"When I deliberation of this concern my feeling is just, wow, we are truthful fortunate due to the fact that present we tin isolate astatine home," Yang said.

"This question is thing we person to face, due to the fact that it is intolerable to enactment closed forever."

Reporting by Bernard Orr successful Beijing, Casey Hall and David Stanway successful Shanghai, Farah Master successful Hong Kong and Chen Lin successful Singapore; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Lincoln Feast.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.