China is experiencing a new outbreak of COVID-19 that has caused a saturation in health services in Shanghai, which has led to the application of certain restrictions to travelers from that country.
At the beginning of December of last year, the government ordered a lifting of the severe measures with which they were managed after the appearance of the disease three years ago.
In the last hours, videos of hospitals have been released in which the critical situation was observed with patients on stretchers and long lines of people waiting to be treated. Some had been connected to oxygen cylinders.
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The AFP agency toured two hospitals where patients with blankets, thick coats and wool hats were seen, as well as some being treated outside the medical centers.
Ruijin Hospital Vice President Chen Erzhen estimated that at least 70% of Shanghai’s 25 million residents were infected after the relaxation of measures. Who is also a member of the expert advisory panel of the disease in the city emphasized that the spread of COVID19 is 20 to 30 times more than in April and May.
“Every day more than 100 ambulances arrive at the hospital,” he added, also explaining that most of the patients are older adults.
Restrictions for Chinese travelers
Countries such as Spain, Italy and the United States announced the requirement of negative COVID-19 test results for travelers from China as a measure to deal with the outbreak.
This has been criticized by the Chinese authorities who consider that they are unacceptable practices and that there is no scientific basis for this.
Mao Ning, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced that they could “take countermeasures, in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.”
For its part, the European Union, through a health expert committee, was in favor of systematically carrying out covid tests on travelers from China, before they leave for Europe.
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Similarly, other proposals were analyzed, such as mandatory masks on flights from that country, control of aircraft water, sequencing of positive tests, among others.
“These measures should target the most appropriate flights and airports and be applied in a coordinated manner (in the EU) to ensure their effectiveness,” a spokesperson said.
Factors that affect worry
Since the lifting of the restrictions with which they were managed in China, the increase in cases in that country has been viewed with concern.
One of the factors that affect this is the unreliable data with which the disease is being managed, since the National Health Commission stopped publishing the daily figures for infections and deaths from the virus. In addition, it became impossible to trace the cases.
China has reported just 15 deaths from covid-19 since it began lifting restrictions on Dec. 7, and soon after lowered the criteria for determining whether a death was caused by the coronavirus.
Yin Wenwu, from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCPE), said authorities collect information from hospitals and local governments, as well as emergency calls and sales of fever medicines, all of which will “fill in the gaps” in the data.
Similarly, there are several regions that give estimated figures.
On the appearance of new variants that have emerged, Xu Wenbo, a senior CCPE official, said in December that China is creating a genetic database with covid samples obtained from hospitals that would allow them to track mutations.
Chinese health experts have pointed to the omicron sub-variants BA.5.2 and BF.7 as the most common in Beijing, amid public fears that the more deadly delta variant is still in circulation. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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