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.
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.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.
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.Urban-rural divide 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.
"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.Two thousand soldiers and 38,000 medical workers from around the country have been sent to Shanghai as reinforcements.
Aba aba ...ang galing ng Pinas tayo papawala na covid 😁