China COVID-19 Surge Leads To Crowded Hospitals, Empty Streets As Experts Say Beijing Hiding Actual Number Of Cases

The easing of COVID-19 curbs in China has left its megacity of 25 million people struggling amid the rising cases in the country. 

What Happened: Months after Shanghai had introduced a strict lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19, the virus is making its way back to the city with people left struggling for hospital beds, pharmacies with no medicines and empty streets, reported Bloomberg.

The report noted that medical facilities are struggling to cope with the number of infected patients, and businesses and schools are closing because of staff sickness. The steep rise in cases has also led to plummeting usage of public transport. 

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One of Shanghai's biggest public hospitals, Tongren Hospital, was using hallways to handle the overflow of seriously ill patients. Pharmacies near the hospital were returning customers empty-handed, saying they had run out of cold and fever medicine.

"Shanghai is beginning to look a lot like Beijing in terms of infections," a physician at a private hospital in Shanghai told the publication last week.

Daniel, a medical worker at a public hospital, said the megacity wasn't well prepared for such a severe scenario.

The World Health Organization has also expressed worries about the worsening COVID-19 situation in China, BBC reported.

Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said, “In China, what’s been reported is relatively low numbers of cases in ICUs, but anecdotally ICUs are filling up."

China's National Health Commission on Wednesday reported only 3,049 COVID cases, as per state-news agency. 

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