China's healthcare system & medical workers under strain amid COVID-19 spike: Report

The anti-lockdown protests in China can be considered as one of the biggest challenges the Xi Jinping administration faced in recent years. In light of the major protests in multiple cities, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decided to take a complete u-turn from its early stance. However, the move came at the cost of rising numbers of COVID cases along with heavy strains on China’s health infrastructure. On Wednesday, a professor from Yale University, who is observing the current crisis in China, made several explosive revelations about the deplorable conditions of the medical staff in the country. 

Prof. Chen Xi told BBC that he has connected with multiple medical staff in the region who has shared their plights of how they are currently struggling with the surge in infections, as the Chinese government relaxes the curbs. He stated that the situation in China is so bad that the frontline medical workers are being told to report to work even if they have contracted COVID-19. The Yale Professor told BBC, "People who've been infected have been required to work in the hospitals which creates a transmission environment there."

The recent revelations from professor Xi comes to light after it was reported that the surge in COVID cases has dried out the shelves in pharmacies. The move to relax the COVID curbs came at a time when the number of new cases in the country was at a record high. On Wednesday, the AP News reported that China’s National Health Commission scaled down its daily COVID-19 tally due to a sharp decline in PCR testing in the country. 

Medical staff are overworked as the new cases keep on rising

With the recent surge in cases and the sudden relaxation of the lockdown measures, the hospitals in China are struggling to fit in the influx of struggling patients. According to BBC, while the Chinese administration has increased the fever wards' capacity, it is still not enough to deal with the huge wave of patients suffering from COVID. Speaking on the sudden relaxation of the curbs, following the massive protests in multiple cities. Prof. Xi said that although the Chinese government “heard the people,” the timing to completely relax the lockdown measures was “not ideal”. The Yale professor gave examples of how countries like New Zealand and Singapore, relaxed their curbs slowly when the number of infections in the aforementioned countries was “at bay”.

The pharmacies in the country are dealing with the brunt of it as well. On Tuesday, Newsweek reported that pharmacies all across the Chinese capital Beijing had their shelves completely emptied amidst the surge in cases. The people of China have started stockpiling medicines as the fears of the deadly virus still prevail. Fear is the reason why the workers are not ready to go back to the office, even after the relaxation of curbs in the country.