China: Overwhelmed crematoriums in Beijing due to Covid tsunami
At a vaccination center in Beijing, Friday, December 16, 2022. AP - Ng Han Guan
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In China, Beijing officially recorded no new deaths linked to viral pneumonia this week.
Yet, with the sudden abandonment of health restrictions, the first wave of Covid in the Chinese capital turned into a tsunami.
Faced with the outbreak of infections, "fever clinics" are opening in gymnasiums and crematoriums are overwhelmed.
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With our correspondent in Beijing
,
Stéphane Lagarde
Ambulances going back and forth between hospitals and mortuaries reports the
Financial Times
, hearses waiting in front of funeral homes, notes
RFA
,
difficult to know if these deaths are directly linked to Covid.
What is certain is that the funeral directors of the capital and several cities in Hebei province, including those of Shijiazhuang, are overwhelmed.
►Also read:
China: health workers infected with Covid continue to work in Beijing
Overwhelmed funeral homes
Crematorium ovens operate 24 hours a day.
No cremation slot before December 21 in the evening, says an employee of the revolutionary cemetery of Babaoshan.
Same response to Beijing's Tian Shun Xiang funeral service company.
“
The funeral companies have reserved all the places;
we are not taking anyone for the moment,
testifies an employee of Tian Shun Xiang.
This also applies to deceased persons requiring emergency treatment.
We have reached our full capacity.
This is not the case in normal times, but right now we are complete.
»
The queue in front of the Shijazhuang crematorium.
https://t.co/cQ8cdpDqN3
— Philippe Kantor (@Kantor75) December 16, 2022
On the side of the authorities the message is intended to be reassuring.
According to
Zhong Nanshan
, a central figure in the fight against Covid, the pathologies linked to the Omicron variant can no longer be qualified as a new coronary disease and are now similar to the flu.
A severe flu, note many Internet users: some believe that the influx into hospitals is linked to the fact that China opened up too quickly, after three years of zero-Covid policy.
Others humorously remark that "
at least now we have the freedom to go to the hospital!"
»
Another day with more videos on Chinese social media of overcrowded hospitals and patients waiting at fever clinics.
There are those saying it's all because China opened up too fast.
Others are happy that lockdowns are over: "At least you now have the freedom to go the hospital!"
pic.twitter.com/qpAfSuXbsu
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) December 16, 2022
Covid hospital in a gymnasium
The number of fever clinics has jumped from 94 to 303 in the capital,
according to the Municipal Health Commission
, and a new 400-bed
field hospital
for Covid patients has just opened at a gymnasium in Greater Chaoyang District.
And the capital is not to be pitied in terms of health infrastructure.
In a directive issued on Friday, Dec. 16, the State Council's epidemic control and prevention mechanism asked local governments and rural hospitals to prepare for the Covid-19 tsunami as millions of Chinese are expected to move for the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January.
►Also read: China: with the end of “zero Covid”, rush on traditional medicine and peaches in syrup
Modeling an epidemic is always very difficult, but if the virus continues to circulate unhindered throughout China, pessimists indeed predict that this first wave of Covid could cause up to 1.5 million deaths, according to figures published by
The Economist
.
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