China Covid scare: Fever medicine sold out in Beijing, crematoriums 'packed' as cases soar

Beijing: As COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed in China, the authorities are rushing to boost the number of intensive care beds and health workers and increase medication supplies.

According to reports, fever medicines are sold out in Beijing, while the only way to get Rapid Antigen kits is via unofficial WeChat sellers.

New Covid warnings by epidemiologists: fast spreading viral strain were over 800,000 people infected in 24 hours in main land China. New CCP policy: “Let whoever needs to be infected infected, let whoever needs to die die.” Expected shortages of antibiotics and ibuprofen… pic.twitter.com/TFmakNkDii

— Joshua Rodriguez (@Joshuajered) December 19, 2022

Several major city hospitals in China were sourcing more ventilators and other emergency equipment, according to the Global Times.

Earlier, it was reported that doctors and nurses were being made to work even after testing positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, crematoriums across China are straining to deal with an influx of bodies as the country battles a wave of COVID-19 cases that authorities have said is impossible to track.

Cases are soaring across China, with hospitals struggling and pharmacy shelves stripped bare in the wake of the government’s sudden decision to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing.

From the country’s northeast to its southwest, crematorium workers told AFP they are struggling to keep up with a surge in deaths. In Chongqing — a city of 30 million where authorities this week urged people with mild Covid symptoms to go to work — one worker said their crematorium had run out of space to keep bodies. “The number of bodies picked up in recent days is many times more than previously,” a staffer who did not give their name said.

“We are very busy, there is no more cold storage space for bodies,” they added. 

In the southern megapolis of Guangzhou, an employee at one crematorium in Zengcheng district told AFP they were cremating more than 30 bodies a day. “We have bodies assigned to us from other districts. There’s no other option,” the employee said.

Another crematorium in the city said they were also “extremely busy”. 

“It’s three or four times busier than in previous years, we are cremating over 40 bodies per day when before it was only a dozen or so,” a staffer said.

(With inputs from AFP)

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