The Chinese communist regime’s health authorities have ordered medical institutions at all levels to expand capacity using all means possible to deal with the worsening pneumonia outbreak that has overwhelmed major hospitals across China.
Experts believe that the order reveals that the outbreak has already spread throughout China and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants to shift the responsibility to local governments.
The CCP’s National Health Commission notice on Dec. 4 requires all medical institutions to take “every effort to tap resources to carry out pediatric diagnosis and treatment services,” and divert sick children to local primary medical and health institutions for first diagnosis and follow-up diagnosis. Primary medical and health institutions in all regions must be fully open to children and must not refuse treatment.
The National Health Commission said that because “the winter respiratory disease epidemic periods overlap in many places across the country, the demand for medical and health services for urban and rural residents, especially children, has increased significantly.”
The primary medical and health institutions mentioned in the notice include township health centers, community health service centers, and community hospitals. They are required to be equipped with the necessary facilities and equipment used for COVID-19 infections.
Wang He, a U.S.-based China observer, told The Epoch Times, “The notice issued by the Health Commission is actually acknowledging the full outbreak of the pneumonia throughout China.”
He said that the CCP requires all local-level health institutions to fully open, “which shows that this epidemic is fierce and spreading across the country, and this situation is very dangerous.”
The outbreak, which spiked in mid-October, has continued to worsen quickly across China, with children’s hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Changchun, Dalian, Shenyang, Anhui, Shandong, Sichuan, Guangzhou, Jiangsu, Gansu, and other places have recently seen huge crowds of patients overwhelming the hospitals. In late November, the Department of Internal Medicine of Beijing Children’s Hospital received an average of more than 7,000 patients every day, far exceeding its capacity.
Sean Lin, an assistant professor in the Biomedical Science Department at Feitian College in Middletown, New York, a former U.S. Army microbiologist, and an Epoch Times contributor, told The Epoch Times that large hospitals in China are no longer able to handle the huge number of infected children seeking treatment and must divert them to lower-level local hospitals and clinics.
“Because the [CCP’s] central government has concealed the entire epidemic for at least three months,” he said. “How much of an obstacle does this bring to local areas in taking active preventive measures? The officials themselves don’t admit it, and the central government doesn’t admit it, then they shift blame to the local governments [by issuing the notice], making ordinary people believe that the infected children being turned away is because of the lack of cooperation among local medical services.”
The outbreak is being caused by the overlap in many places in China of epidemic periods of respiratory diseases, including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, mycoplasma pneumonia bacteria, and COVID-19, the CCP’s National Health Commission said in its memo.
The CCP needs to explain some things clearly, Mr. Lin says.
“Why do so many people now need to go to the hospital for treatment, severe cases require IV (intravenous) treatment, and even white lungs [appeared] and require lung washing, etc.? How do you explain [the occurrence of these] severe cases?”
“Even if there is cross-infection, there is no specific explanation as to which two viruses are causing cross infections making the symptoms worse.”
“Officials are still concealing the number of severe cases and deaths,” Mr. Lin said.
There are reports on social media and in other media of rising death tolls from the epidemic in many places, but authorities have been blocking the information.
A man identified only as Chen who works in the health care industry in Jinzhou in Liaoning Province told Epoch Times sister media outlet NTD that the number of deaths in hospitals has surged but the news has been blocked by authorities:
“Don’t look at the official figures. The number of deaths in hospitals has increased a lot now, and waiting lines [for cremation] have begun. They built an additional crematorium here, which has already prepared for it.”
Beijing Restarts PCR Testing
The “China Textile Industry Federation Document,” published by the China Textile Economic Information Network, indicates that on Dec. 6, the China Textile Industry Federation Science and Technology Awards Conference was held in the small auditorium of People’s Great Hall in Beijing.“According to the requirements of the Beijing People’s Great Hall Administration, a negative COVID-19 PCR test certificate within 24 hours is required to enter the Great Hall, and the conference affairs team will arrange for the testing,” the document reads.
A photo circulating on social media shows that a participant of the conference showed a PCR test certificate he or she received that could be exchanged for the invitation to People’s Great Hall in the parking lot at 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 6.
Ms. Yu, a Beijing resident, told Radio Free Asia on Dec. 6 that she took her child to the pediatrician at the General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army of the CCP in Dongsishitiao in Beijing that morning and a COVID-19 PCR test was required before seeking treatment.
