COVID chaos at China's hospitals as stringent control policy eases

Peak of infections, affecting 60% of population, expected in one to three months

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Mitigating the impact of the coming surge has become the biggest challenge facing China as it continues the shift from the stringent "zero-COVID" strategy.

JIANG MOTING, QI ZHANNING, HUANG HUIZHAO, ZHOU XINDA, CHEN XI, HAN WENRONG, CHU QI, WANG LINQIAN and DENISE JIA, Caixin

December 13, 2022 11:02 JST

As Chinese authorities move to ease the burdens of sweeping pandemic lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and regular mass testing, the country's hospitals are feeling the first shock of a giant wave of infections and shortage of health workers.

Since the State Council, China's cabinet, rolled out a new 10-point plan Wednesday to ease its stringent COVID-19 controls, ending mass nucleic acid testing and allowing some infected people to quarantine at home rather than in centralized facilities, hospitals are facing increasing workloads as infections surge.