Regarding the current situation of Covid treatment in China, a reporter interviewed Professor Qiu Yunqing, executive vice president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine and deputy director of the State’s Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control.

Qiu Yunqing told reporters, “Now that the number of infected people in a number of places has reached a relatively high level. it can be inferred that the peak of severe cases in many places may arrive in 2 to 3 weeks. At this stage, hospitals at all levels urgently need to make preparations for treating severe patients.”  The peak of severe cases will generally appear 2 to 3 weeks after the peak of infection.

Qiu Yunqing added, “At present, the intensive care units of hospitals in many places have reached a relatively saturated state. The treatment time for critically ill patients is generally relatively long and it takes a long time for patients to recover once they are admitted to the hospital or intensive care unit. Therefore, the existing medical resources may very likely be in short supply and it will be a huge challenge for the medical resources and medical personnel in hospitals to treat critically ill patients.”

The challenge to the hospitals has just begun. The Intensive care department, the respiratory department, and the emergency department are the three most over-loaded departments in most hospitals. The heads of the relevant departments of many top hospitals across the country told China News Weekly that, basically, all of the medical staff in these departments were infected. Although they have returned to work one after another recently, most of them came to work with illnesses and there is still a shortage of medical staff.

“The biggest problem facing these hospitals now is the shortage of medical staff. Since last week, a large number of the medical staff in the hospitals have been infected one after another. The staff reduction rate has now reached 70 percent.” On December 20, Zhao Linzhi, a critical care physician at a hospital in Wuhan, told China News Weekly  that some doctors and nurses with mild symptoms were exhausted because of staying up late and working overtime. In addition, some students who had been studying and training in the hospital left the hospital one after another, which stretched the insufficient medical resources even further. What makes Zhao Linzhi most anxious every day is not knowing who will show up to work in the hospital the next day.

With the gradual increase of critically ill patients, over occupancy of hospital beds has occurred in many hospitals.

Source: China Times, December 29, 2022                                                                                                                                                        https://m.chinatimes.net.cn/article/123765.htmlI

Italy’s health minister Orazio Schillaci, said on Wednesday that Italy has ordered COVID-19 antigen swabs and virus sequencing for all travelers from China, where cases are surging.

Milan’s main airport, Malpensa, which began testing passengers from Beijing and Shanghai on December 26, showed almost one in every two passengers had been infected.

“This measure is essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus to protect the Italian population,” said Minister Schillaci.

On the first flight to Malpensa, 62 passengers from China were tested and 35 tested positive for Covid, the Lombardy’s health chief Guido Bertolaso said on Wednesday. On the second flight, 62 of 120 people tested positive.

Japan said it would require travelers from mainland China to be tested for COVID-19 on arrival starting on Dec. 31. Taiwan would begin testing travelers from China on Jan. 1.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December28, 2022                                                                                                                                                       https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/7-12282022134702.html

China quickly relaxed the epidemic prevention policy on Covid. It has also continued to cover the death numbers in a number of different ways. Recently, an announcement from a funeral home in the eastern suburbs of Beijing has been circulating on the Internet. It reads, “In order to enforce the work discipline strictly, urgent notification is given of  the following relevant requirements: 1. It is strictly forbidden for anyone to be interviewed by any media or organization. 2. It is strictly forbidden for anyone to discuss, answer or disclose the data or the operation of any funeral homes. 3. It is strictly forbidden for anyone to shoot, edit, or send (forward) anything related to the situation of the funeral homes, whether in the form of text messages, WeChat, email, Weibo or other media. Any violations will be dealt with seriously.”

A media reporter called the Beijing Dongjiao Funeral Home on the 27th, but the Home declined to reveal a single word, only saying that they would report to their superiors, who would give a unified reply.

Source: Liberty Times, December 29, 2022                                                                                                                                                                                                   https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/4168457