China: Covid-19 overwhelms the country

Since Sunday January 1, all passengers on planes taking off from China bound for Paris have been tested, for fear of seeing thousands of patients and a new variant of Covid-19 land. The epidemic has reached a spectacular level in China.

An endless line of coffins outside. A hundred families wait in front of the overwhelmed crematorium of a city, not far from Shanghai (China). In recent days, images shared on social media show similar scenes across China. Morgues and crematoriums can no longer manage the influx of deceased. In places, there are four times more than normal.

Hospitals are overwhelmed

Since China abruptly ended health restrictions on December 7, hospitals have been overwhelmed with Covid patients, mostly elderly people. In Shanghai’s top hospitals, patients wait for hours, some screaming to see a doctor. Even authorities have acknowledged that the scale of the outbreak is impossible to determine. According to several estimates, this new wave of Covid-19 could cause the death of 1 to 2 million people in China, where less than 10% of the population is vaccinated.