Authorities in China are now trying to free up hospital beds to avoid being overwhelmed by patients due to the spread of the variant. Omicron strains of the coronavirusdue to which tens of millions of people have gone into lockdown.
China’s Ministry of Health announced today 3,290 new cases, 11 of them serious, in twenty provinces. This is a significant decrease compared to yesterday, when 5,280 new infections were announced.
Many cities in China have already been locked, mainly in Jilin Province (northeast), where the vast majority of cases are located, but also in the technology metropolis of Shenzhen, with 17.5 million inhabitants.
Although these numbers are small compared to those reported in most countries of the world, they are high for China.
The country is pursuing a zero-tolerance policy against covid-19, which has allowed it to greatly reduce the epidemic, albeit at a high social and economic cost.
Once a case is detected, the authorities impose strict restrictive measures and proceed with numerous and massive diagnostic tests.
Until now, those who were positive for covid-19 had to be hospitalized, but last Tuesday night, the Ministry of Health pointed out that those who have mild symptoms will be able to remain in quarantine at home.
“Patients infected with the (…) Omicron variant strain are mainly asymptomatic and have mild symptoms. “Most of them do not need special medical care,” the Chinese ministry said.
“Admitting them to hospitals (…) would consume much of our medical resources,” he added.
China wants to avoid finding itself in the same situation as the semi-autonomous province of Hong Kong, where hospitals have reached their limits due to the rapid rise in covid-19 cases.
Pictures broadcast today by the state-run CCTV network show dozens of cranes assembling temporary hospitals in Jilin, where more than 5,000 cases have been reported in one week.
A total of 6,000 prefabricated hospital rooms have already been built in Changchun and Jilin.
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