The number of patients with severe Covid-19 symptoms admitted to Chinese hospitals peaked on January 5, the country’s health authorities said Friday, having fallen more than 40% since then.
“The number of critical Covid-19 patients in hospitals peaked on January 5 and dropped by 44.3% as of January 17,” said the director of the National Commission’s Medical Emergency Department. of Health, Guo Yanhong, in a statement published this Tuesday. Friday on the agency’s official website.
The number of visits to fever departments at clinics peaked on Dec. 23, according to Guo, adding that the number of fever department visits dropped by 94% between then and Jan. 17.
According to the official, health centers are currently treating a number of patients similar to that registered before December 7, when Beijing began to dismantle the zero Covid policy.
The emergency rooms of hospitals in the Asian country registered the maximum level of activity on January 2 and the number of patients treated fell 44%, on January 17, compared to that peak, Guo said.
“The proportion of patients with Covid-19 in the total number of patients who attend hospitals has been gradually decreasing,” explained the director, who added that 99.5% of the consultations carried out on January 17 were carried out with people who They did not have Covid -19. 19.
In the case of patients admitted to the clinics, 85% were not infected with Covid-19 that day, the official said.
In recent weeks, the country has seen scenarios of great hospital pressure and problems with access to medicines. The authorities were criticized for the sudden withdrawal of preventive measures against Covid-19, without proper preparation.
The State Council (Executive) urged, in mid-December, local authorities to give priority to health services in rural areas “to protect the population”, pointing out the “relative scarcity of medical resources” given the high number of trips planned during the Lunar New Year, which starts this Friday.
This is the largest internal migration on the planet and coincides, this year, with the end of the policy of zero cases of Covid-19, which for almost three years restricted the internal flow of people in the country.
According to a recent study by Peking University, around 900 million people have already contracted Covid-19 in China, after the country dismantled the zero Covid policy, following protests in various cities across the country.
China’s National Health Commission announced last Saturday a total of 59,938 deaths between December 8 and January 12 this year.
The number of daily deaths from Covid-19 in China could reach 36,000 during the Lunar New Year holidays, according to a study published on Wednesday by the British health analysis company Airfinity.
Source: TSF
