China to build more hospitals to brace for Covid surge

CHINA’S top health authorities vowed to strengthen hospital networks to more effectively treat Covid patients, in a sign that the country is preparing to tolerate a higher caseload, as it contemplates a shift away from its zero-tolerance strategy. 

China will build more hospitals that specialise in treating moderate and severe Covid patients, and ensure that intensive care units account for 10 per cent of all hospital beds to tend to the most vulnerable patients, said Guo Yanhong, a National Health Commission (NHC) official at a briefing in Beijing on Thursday (Nov 17).

Chinese cities should also build more fever clinics to facilitate the early discovery of Covid infections, while adding more makeshift hospitals to accommodate asymptomatic or mild patients, he said. 

Officials are also drafting plans to acceleration vaccination, said NHC’s Shen Hongbin, without giving details. This was one of 20 new measures to guide Covid control released last week, in what authorities called an “optimisation” of their playbook. 

While officials maintain that they are still committed to strictly controlling the virus, the new guidelines – which eased quarantine time for travellers and close contacts, among other changes – have raised hopes that the country is moving towards rejoining the rest of the world in living with the virus. 

The focus on raising hospital capacity also reflects a potential shift away from tracking case counts, and towards preventing severe illness and death. 

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The detail around hospital plans comes as new daily infections exceeded 23,000 this week, approaching a level last seen during the outbreak in Shanghai. While some major cities like Guangzhou and Chongqing are seeing cases surge, they are refraining from the city-wide lockdowns and mass testing strategies of the past, as the central government urges targeted and less disruptive measures. BLOOMBERG