Coronavirus: Chinese Hospitals In Chaos As Lockdown Spreads To Affect 33M People

Source: The Guardian

Public transport suspended in at least 10 cities as death toll rises and heath care centres struggle to cope with influx of patients.

Hospitals in the Chinese city of Wuhan have been thrown into chaos and the movement of about 33 million people has been restricted by an unprecedented and indefinite lockdown imposed to halt the spread of the deadly new coronavirus.

At least ten cities in central Hubei province have been shut down in an effort to stop the virus, which by Friday had killed 26 people across China and affected more than 800. The World Health Organisation described the outbreak as an emergency for China, but stopped short of declaring it to be a public health emergency of international concern.

In the city of Wuhan, where most cases have occurred, the race to build a new 1,000-bed hospital in just six days began on Thursday night. Diggers and bulldozers beginning work on the site of a holiday complex once intended for local workers, according to Chinese media...



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/24/coronavirus-chinese-hospitals-in-chaos-as-lockdown-spreads-to-affect-25m-people

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Video footage posted on Weibo that appeared to be taken inside Wuhan’s hospitals, showed scenes of chaos and despair.

One, apparently taken at Hankou People’s Hospital, showed long queues of patients wearing masks. The man filming claimed there were only four doctors on duty and that people had been waiting for several hours for treatment. One video showed a patient lying on the floor, apparently having fainted and in another clip, a woman wearing a face mask cries out for help, saying: “I have a fever”.

Videos taken elsewhere in the area showed empty shop shelves and barricades going up across Wuhan.