Chinese cities face blood, medicine shortages amid raging Covid outbreak

Shortage of blood has been reported from across the country, according to a state media report, with the local authorities urging people to donate more blood.

Beijing: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it is “very concerned” about the Covid-19 situation in China as the viral outbreak spreads unchecked through the country amid continuing shortages of fever medicines and the fear of coming waves of infection in the days and weeks ahead.

Workers unload a body from a vehicle for cremation at Gaobeidian Funeral Home in northern China's Hebei province, on Thursday. China only counts deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official Covid-19 death toll, a health official said, a narrow definition that limits the number of deaths being reported as the virus surges following the easing of pandemic-related restrictions. (AP)

Many local governments in China have dipped into their medicine reserves, besides cranking up production at manufacturing units, to meet panic-fuelled demand and have begun to distribute free drugs, even dispensing loose medicines among the public, a rarity in China.

Shortage of blood has been reported from across the country, according to a state media report, with the local authorities urging people to donate more blood.

The shortage of blood, reported from “multiple regions from the north to the south across China” has been caused by many factors including “epidemic impact”, the state-run tabloid, Global Times reported on Thursday.

In the southern city of Guangzhou, for example, about 1,200 blood donors are needed each day to meet the demand for clinical blood use, the GT report said, adding that due to the recent rising Covid-19 infected cases as well as cold weather, blood inventory has fallen to critically low levels.

China reported no new Covid-19 deaths for a second consecutive day for December 21, according to a Reuters report, even as funeral parlour workers say demand has jumped in the past week, pushing fees higher.

In the absence of official figures, statistical forecasting modules are being used to calculate the possible number of infections in China.

This current Covid wave may see the country’s daily case rate rise to 3.7 million in January, according to British scientific information and analytics company Airfinity, reported Bloomberg on Thursday.

“There’ll most likely be another surge of infections that will push the daily peak to 4.2 million in March,” the group estimated, according to the Bloomberg report.

Data from the national health commission (NHC), meanwhile, showed that as of Tuesday, more than 3.46 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses had been administered on the Chinese mainland, according to the official news agency, Xinhua. “..over 90 % of the population is fully vaccinated. A total of about 820 million people have received a booster shot as of early August,” the report said.

The WHO, meanwhile, has expressed concern over China’s Covid-19 situation.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed his concern during his opening remarks at a press conference in Geneva while calling on China “…to share the data and conduct the studies we have requested, and which we continue to request”.

“As I have said many times before, all hypotheses about the origins of this pandemic remain on the table,” he said, while referring to how the “gaps in our understanding” of how the Covid-19 pandemic began “compromise our ability to prevent future pandemics”.

“At the same time, WHO is very concerned over the evolving situation in China, with increasing reports of severe disease,” Tedros said, according to a statement released by the WHO.

His statements indicated that China is yet to fully apprise the WHO on the spread and severity of the ongoing outbreak.

“In order to make a comprehensive risk assessment of the situation on the ground, WHO needs more detailed information on disease severity, hospital admissions and requirements for ICU (intensive care unit) support,” Tedros said.

“WHO is supporting China to focus its efforts on vaccinating people at the highest risk across the country, and we continue to offer our support for clinical care and protecting its health system,” the WHO chief said.