Demand for Lemons Surge Amid China’s Drug Shortage Fueled by COVID Surge

A notice reading "Ibuprofen sold out" is displayed on the door of a pharmacy in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China, on Dec. 20, 2022. VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Chinese people are turning to natural remedies to prevent being infected with COVID-19. While fever clinics overcrowd and medical resources run in short supply, sales of canned yellow peaches and lemons have soared.

The“10 New Guidelines” released by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Dec. 7 marked a shift in China’s epidemic prevention policy. Not only did the New Guidelines not mention “Zero-COVID,” but they also made it clear there would be “no temporary lockdowns and restrictions in any form,” “no full-scale nucleic acid testing by administrative district,” and “no more testing upon arrival.” Soon after, the statement “we can only rely on ourselves for epidemic prevention in the future,” began circulating among netizens online.

Demand for Canned Yellow Peaches and Lemons Surge

Streets are still empty despite the lifting of China’s “zero-COVID” policy. Many are staying home for fear of infection and sharing on social media ways to stock up and natural remedies to boost immunity.

Canned yellow peaches, rejected by many pro-healthy consumers due to their high sugar content, have become popular after rumors circulated online that they could relieve symptoms of COVID-19.

Sales of canned fresh yellow peaches rose 887 percent week-on-week and were sold out every day, retail consumer platform Freshhippo told Red Star Capital, the official financial Weibo account of Chengdu Economic Daily on Dec. 15.

Lemons have quickly become one of the most sought-after products amid China's COVID medicine short supply. Shutterstock

Lemons have also quickly become a most sought-after product, which may be attributed to Ning Guang, president of Ruijin Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. At a press conference on epidemic prevention and control in Shanghai on Dec. 8, Ning said “those with no symptoms or nasal congestion can drink water with fresh lemon slices.”

‘Be Responsible for Your Own Health’

Panic buying of cold and fever medicine has resulted in them selling out and becoming unavailable even for people with serious outbreaks.

“Beijing has a large infected area. I can’t find cold and fever medicine in a dozen pharmacies I know,” Li Feng (a pseudonym), an employee of a state-owned enterprise in Beijing, told the Epoch Times on Dec. 18. “Almost all of my colleagues were infected. I heard many people have died. The hospital is full of people.”

After the reopening, the People’s daily, a communist party mouthpiece media, began to emphasize the need for everyone to “be the first person responsible for your own health.”

However, the capacity of the medical system, the quality of vaccines, and the availability of therapeutic drugs are beyond individuals’ capabilities.

“In fact, we’ve always been ‘on our own,’” Jiang Yan (a pseudonym), a resident in Jilin City, Jinlin Province told The Epoch Times on Dec. 18. “The government didn’t offer treatment even during the lockdown. [People were] directly pulled away for quarantine. The square cabin [hospitals] from place to place were built for quarantine.”

“A lot of people died during the lockdown, and they didn’t report it,” Jiang continued. “Only after the reopening did people find that many people around them were gone. Several of my neighbors have died.”

“If the government takes care of the people, how do they explain all these people dying in their homes under lockdown?”

A man holds antigen test kits as he leaves a pharmacy amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Xian, in China's northern Shaanxi province on Dec. 20, 2022. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Li echoed the opposition to the “Zero-COVID” policy.

“The first three years of lockdown were a waste of energy, material resources, and manpower. The economy was battered,” he said.

“Many sensible people disagreed with‘Zero-COVID' for a long time, and those at the top are not unanimous on lockdowns. In the past, people were always calling for reopening while agreeing with restrictions.”

Expert: CCP Faces Threats Amid All Problems

A Nov. 18 commentary by CCP mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency said that the general policy of “dynamic Zero-COVID” would be relentlessly adhered to. But on Dec. 7, less than a month after the commentary the “10 New Guidelines” for easing “Zero-COVID” as introduced.

“The reopening does mean that the CCP has failed to prevent and control the epidemic, and there will be accountability within the Party,” Yang Si, a former academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told The Epoch Times on Dec. 18.

“But it’s hard to say how far the accountability will go. The Xi [Jinping] faction is dominant [now] that the accountability may end up with nothing definite.”

“The CCP is now in a precarious position with internal and external problems. If there is any more turmoil, it may fall,” he said.