Beneath a pile of blankets, lying on his stretcher, an old man moans. In Chongqing hospital, this patient is one of many elderly people infected with COVID-19.
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Here, in central China as in the rest of the country, the virus is progressing at high speed.
To the point that the authorities admit to being unable to measure the number of cases declared since the sudden abandonment of the “zero COVID” policy which followed three years of massive tests, confinements and limitation of population movements.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called on China to be transparent regarding its COVID-19 outbreak and to give information to the rest of the world, while renewing Washington’s offer to supply vaccines to Beijing.
“It is very important that all countries, including China, focus their efforts in vaccinating populations, available tests and treatments and, above all, giving information to the rest of the world regarding what they are doing. are living, because it has an impact not only for China, but for the whole world,” Blinken told a press conference.
A caregiver at Chongqing Hospital explains that he takes care of more than ten people a day and that 80 to 90% of them have COVID, “mostly elderly people”.
“Many hospital workers have tested positive for the virus, but there is no choice but to continue working,” he laments.
The old man on his stretcher waited half an hour before being taken care of.
In an adjoining room, visibly overwhelmed doctors are caring for patients who are also elderly, most of them suffering from COVID and on respiratory assistance.
Millions of older Chinese, the most vulnerable to COVID, are still unvaccinated.
However, a change initiated by the Chinese authorities in the method of recording deaths allows the latter to have reported no deaths.
This week, they argued that only people who died directly from respiratory failure were now counted and no longer those infected with COVID, but who died of another disease.
“Older people have other comorbidities. Only a small proportion die directly from respiratory failure caused by COVID infection,” an official said.
At the Chongqing hospital, caregivers rush to the elderly, their relatives struggling to hide their concern.
A doctor confirms that the hospital’s activity revolves around the management of COVID-19 patients, without further details.
Outside, on the streets of Chongqing, there is a semblance of normality with a few passers-by and flowing traffic.
Residents explain that most of their relatives have already contracted COVID and that many are apprehensive regarding leaving their homes.
“In recent days, we have seen returns to workplaces and more traffic on the roads,” said Xiang, a taxi driver.
“Since the reopening, businesses have not recovered. Before there were a lot of tourists, now there is nobody. They are afraid”, he regrets.
At a small neon-lit massage parlor in the Jiefangbei business district on Wednesday, 21-year-old employee Zheng complained regarding the dire economic situation.
“Chongqing has experienced drought, heat waves and an epidemic this year. All we need now is a flood!” he quips.
He says he was infected with COVID in recent weeks earlier in the month and searched several pharmacies for fever medication.
“We had no choice but to take care of ourselves at home (…) Many hospitals were no longer accepting patients, whatever the illness,” said Yang, another taxi driver.
“We should have reopened a long time ago,” he said.
