Rising infections are running rampant in hospitals in Shanghai—China’s biggest city.
Authorities refuse to admit that the CCP virus, which causes COVID-19, is the main driver. Instead, they blame several other ailments, according to a healthcare worker.
We distorted his voice and gave him a pseudonym to protect his identity. He’s worked temporary jobs in different hospitals in Shanghai. Here’s what he saw in one of those facilities.
“CCP virus infections have started spreading inside the hospital. Even patients’ family members have been infected. I also heard some doctors and nurses cough. Though some COVID patients cough while others don’t,” Wang Hao (pseudonym), a healthcare worker in Shanghai, said.
He says hospitals in Shanghai are overflowing.
“It’s hard to get a bed in the hospital. Every single one of them,” Mr. Wang said.
Shanghai is China’s top spot for foreign trade. With the United States standing as its top export destination. Trade volume between the two totals over $40 billion.
“I also heard people coughing in the hallway and inside wards. Another caregiver was also infected with the CCP virus. He doesn’t have much strength in his body and looked very pale,” Mr. Wang said.
He also witnessed a cancer patient who caught the virus. Wang called that patient’s symptoms severe.
“[The patient] His ward smells really bad. It’s hard to stay in that room. The smell comes from his [inflamed] lungs. His lungs have been severely infected and had inflammation,” Mr. Wang said.
Meanwhile, authorities have been quietly ramping up COVID-19 prevention measures. Media reports say vaccines targeting the XBB variant are available in Shanghai’s hospitals.
A staff member at Shanghai’s Pudong airport told Radio Free Asia that foreign travelers must be screened for COVID-19 after arriving at the airport.
Chinese internet users have also shared clips taken inside hospitals. Patients fill a pediatric hospital’s hallway in Shanghai after 8 p.m. In Jiangsu, patients wait in long lines to get IV drips.
Similar scenes are playing out in major cities up north.
We’ll keep you updated as the situation develops.