A nurse shows the drugs to family members as an elderly patient with COVID symptoms receives an intravenous drip while using a ventilators at the emergency ward of a hospital in Anhui. January 4, 2023. Credit: Chinatopix via AP
China’s zero-Covid era is over, and as the virus spreads across the country, all eyes are on how the country’s healthcare infrastructure will cope.
While scientists say cases in major cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, have likely peaked, there is concern that the arrival of the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on January 21, will deliver a fresh wave of infections from cities to rural areas, as hundreds of millions of migrant workers make the annual pilgrimage back home.
Three years of stringent Covid-control measures should have given the Chinese authorities ample time to prepare for the onset of the virus. But official data on China’s healthcare spending shows it actually decreased between 2020 and 2021, and that growth in hospital infrastructure has slowed.
This week, The Wire looks at the state of China’s healthcare system.
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