Dubai Telegraph - China's health system faces raft of challenges as Omicron hits

EUR -
AED 3.804709
AFN 77.173939
ALL 98.583483
AMD 410.170979
ANG 1.869121
AOA 946.266488
ARS 1091.696847
AUD 1.652874
AWG 1.867189
AZN 1.75698
BAM 1.947609
BBD 2.093953
BDT 126.010038
BGN 1.95527
BHD 0.390354
BIF 3069.82991
BMD 1.035888
BND 1.398989
BOB 7.166858
BRL 6.022445
BSD 1.037118
BTN 90.680748
BWP 14.394184
BYN 3.393993
BYR 20303.411698
BZD 2.083198
CAD 1.487002
CDF 2957.461198
CHF 0.937629
CLF 0.026208
CLP 1005.650783
CNY 7.551362
CNH 7.555443
COP 4326.470573
CRC 526.276472
CUC 1.035888
CUP 27.451041
CVE 109.802144
CZK 25.116205
DJF 184.679725
DKK 7.459421
DOP 64.109138
DZD 140.378603
EGP 52.090059
ERN 15.538325
ETB 130.831589
FJD 2.396323
FKP 0.853144
GBP 0.83723
GEL 2.894167
GGP 0.853144
GHS 15.971827
GIP 0.853144
GMD 74.583747
GNF 8966.117981
GTQ 8.0182
GYD 216.977455
HKD 8.065649
HNL 26.570814
HRK 7.644388
HTG 135.656847
HUF 405.712934
IDR 16938.276593
ILS 3.67961
IMP 0.853144
INR 90.726365
IQD 1358.586178
IRR 43610.899592
ISK 146.55742
JEP 0.853144
JMD 163.769651
JOD 0.734858
JPY 157.76164
KES 133.751058
KGS 90.588209
KHR 4161.16358
KMF 489.923611
KPW 932.299632
KRW 1501.748589
KWD 0.319613
KYD 0.864257
KZT 536.1101
LAK 22552.152144
LBP 92872.60801
LKR 309.627795
LRD 206.378049
LSL 19.311296
LTL 3.058709
LVL 0.626598
LYD 5.094476
MAD 10.380642
MDL 19.414162
MGA 4867.639514
MKD 61.484154
MMK 3364.52496
MNT 3519.948731
MOP 8.319311
MRU 41.348303
MUR 48.345228
MVR 15.963466
MWK 1798.319426
MXN 21.359003
MYR 4.594183
MZN 66.203332
NAD 19.311296
NGN 1556.409493
NIO 38.079586
NOK 11.649528
NPR 145.088
NZD 1.829674
OMR 0.398845
PAB 1.037138
PEN 3.849882
PGK 4.148211
PHP 60.192879
PKR 288.960873
PLN 4.202068
PYG 8171.475361
QAR 3.781559
RON 4.97465
RSD 117.058453
RUB 100.560324
RWF 1446.100139
SAR 3.885187
SBD 8.742296
SCR 14.903437
SDG 622.558829
SEK 11.30683
SGD 1.401546
SHP 0.853144
SLE 23.716661
SLL 21722.060714
SOS 592.701546
SRD 36.364899
STD 21440.797435
SVC 9.074747
SYP 13468.620337
SZL 19.300455
THB 34.985578
TJS 11.320091
TMT 3.635968
TND 3.292569
TOP 2.426158
TRY 37.181296
TTD 7.02439
TWD 34.016809
TZS 2635.071065
UAH 43.166438
UGX 3816.94702
USD 1.035888
UYU 45.129762
UZS 13466.548468
VES 61.517319
VND 26176.898654
VUV 122.982745
WST 2.901344
XAF 653.203508
XAG 0.032282
XAU 0.000361
XCD 2.79954
XDR 0.795447
XOF 652.095783
XPF 119.331742
YER 257.884301
ZAR 19.252985
ZMK 9324.238051
ZMW 29.064203
ZWL 333.555627
  • RYCEF

    -0.0600

    7.44

    -0.81%

  • RBGPF

    -0.7000

    65.3

    -1.07%

  • VOD

    0.1100

    8.38

    +1.31%

  • SCS

    0.1600

    11.72

    +1.37%

  • RIO

    1.1300

    62.5

    +1.81%

  • BCC

    0.7500

    125.5

    +0.6%

  • NGG

    -1.2200

    61.45

    -1.99%

  • BP

    0.2500

    31.92

    +0.78%

  • GSK

    -0.6600

    37.04

    -1.78%

  • RELX

    -0.4600

    50.31

    -0.91%

  • BTI

    0.1900

    41.29

    +0.46%

  • CMSC

    0.0400

    23.54

    +0.17%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    23.98

    +0.67%

  • BCE

    -1.0900

    23.81

    -4.58%

  • AZN

    3.1580

    74.093

    +4.26%

  • JRI

    0.0040

    12.834

    +0.03%

China's health system faces raft of challenges as Omicron hits
China's health system faces raft of challenges as Omicron hits

China's health system faces raft of challenges as Omicron hits

China is battling its biggest spike in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with millions under lockdown and the healthcare system feeling the pressure.

Text size:

One of the last countries sticking to a zero-Covid strategy, China aims to stamp out every infection with strict lockdowns and by sending all cases to secure facilities.

That is placing a strain on China's already under-pressure medical system, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant rapidly moves through the population.

Here are some of China's key challenges in the fight against Covid:

- Vaccination rates -

Beijing says more than 1.2 billion people in China had received two doses of a Covid vaccine by mid-March -- nearly 90 percent of the population.

It has also launched a booster campaign but more than half of the population has yet to receive a third shot.

A major challenge is protecting the elderly, with only around half of Chinese people aged above 80 double-vaccinated and fewer than a fifth having received a booster.

Among the over-60s, just over half have received a third shot.

Officials have launched a fresh push to encourage older people to get a third dose, after hospitals in Hong Kong were overwhelmed by a wave of severe cases -- mostly unvaccinated elderly patients.

China is using homegrown vaccines and has not approved any foreign-made shots, but it has given "conditional" approval to Pfizer's Covid-19 drug Paxlovid.

Chinese vaccines have shown a lower rate of efficacy in studies compared with many foreign jabs.

However, several Chinese vaccine makers have recently been given the go-ahead for clinical trials on a domestically-made mRNA Covid jab -- the same technology as the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna shots.

- Hospitals stretched -

China's healthcare system was understaffed and struggling to cope with its huge and ageing population even before the pandemic.

According to the National Health Commission, China has only 2.9 general practitioners per 10,000 people. Britain has around the same number for every 1,000 people.

Some Chinese regions are woefully under-resourced.

In Jilin province, site of a recent Covid cluster, authorities said there were only 22,880 hospital beds for a population of 24 million.

Peking University researchers have warned that China could suffer a "colossal outbreak" that would quickly overwhelm its medical system if the authorities relaxed restrictions to a similar degree as in Europe and the United States.

It would likely lead to hundreds of thousands of new cases a day, the researchers said.

- Urban-rural divide -

Despite huge reductions in rural poverty, there are still significant differences in access to healthcare between the countryside and cities.

Much of China's wealth, equipment and expertise is based in top-tier cities where richer residents can choose between a range of hospitals including international clinics.

According to a National Health Commission report last year, China had only 1.6 medical workers per 1,000 people in rural areas and just 1.5 hospital beds.

Although nearly 40 percent of the population lives in the countryside, rural China had a total of only 1.4 million hospital beds.

Rural Chinese who migrate to cities for work also struggle to access healthcare in the cities due to red tape.

- Maintaining 'zero-Covid' -

Despite being China's most developed city, Shanghai has descended into crisis as authorities scramble to find enough beds for people who test positive.

Authorities have said 130,000 new beds are ready or under construction at makeshift venues.

About 40,000 beds are being set up at Shanghai's landmark National Exhibition and Convention Center.

But most are currently filled by people with mild symptoms or none at all.

Meanwhile, Shanghai residents under lockdown have complained about a lack of access to food and medicines unrelated to Covid.

"Draconian, heavy-handed zero-Covid control measures" have overwhelmed the medical system, according to Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

This is "an outcome that the zero-Covid strategy is supposed to avoid", he told AFP.

Two thousand soldiers and 38,000 medical workers from around the country have been sent to Shanghai as reinforcements.

At least two asthma patients died after reportedly being refused medical services due to Covid rules.

As pressure on the system grows, some close contacts of patients are being allowed to quarantine at home, while rapid home testing kits have been deployed for the first time.

Shanghai health commission chief Wu Jinglei said this week that although the city had 50 percent more ambulances on the road than before the outbreak, it still could not handle all the requests for medical help.

A.El-Nayady--DT