"Experts predict that the COVID-19 infections in Guangzhou will peak in early January 2023." Zhang Yi, deputy director of the Guangzhou Municipal Health Commission said at the press conference on Guangzhou's medical supplies on December 19.
To brace for the upcoming infection peak, Guangzhou is working to shore up medical resource reserves and improve medical service capacity, Zhang Yi noted.
(Photo: Southern Metropolis Daily)
This month has witnessed increasing fever outpatient visits in Guangzhou. The young and the middle-aged adults aged 18-59 accounted for 86% of the patients, while people aged 60 and above 8.2%, and minors 5.8%.
Since the start of December when Guangzhou expanded its fever clinics, fever clinics of Grade II medical institutions have all been opened to residents. Currently, 199 fever clinics, along with 224 grassroots fever clinics and 1,048 consulting rooms, are right in service. The daily medical treatment can cover 111 thousand fever patients.
If necessary, the general outpatient clinic of the Grade III hospitals (top grade) can be converted into fever clinics. By then, the maximum daily capacity is expected to cover 161 thousand patients.
At present, Guangzhou has set up 7 designated hospitals and 4 sub-designated hospitals, with 6,880 beds provided and 455 ICU beds open for severe cases. To prepare for the possible peak of admissions, extra 930 ICU beds are expected to be added on December 20.
In addition, Guangzhou has accelerated the building of online hospital platforms, which now have accommodated 168 on-site hospitals with 498 doctors serving patients through the Internet.
"As of December 18, Guangzhou is producing nearly 40 million masks of all kinds per day." Chen Jianhua, chief economist of the Guangzhou Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, said at the press conference.
As for the medical protective masks that residents are concerned about, N95 medical masks see a daily production capacity of more than 1.2 million and KN95 masks see over 4 million. In the meantime, more than 10 million antigen reagent products are being produced per day.
The daily production of antigen reagent products and medical protective masks is expected to improve by over 30% ahead of January 1, 2023.
According to Ding Li, deputy director of the Guangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Supervision, it is deemed as an illegal act for unqualified enterprises and individuals to sell antigen reagents. Those who sell counterfeit or unqualified reagents can be sentenced to life imprisonment if they commit severe crimes.
Consumers are encouraged to preserve relevant evidence and report to the Guangzhou government service hotline "12345" when encountering illegal acts.
Author | Hannah, Riz Zhang (intern)
Editor | Steven, Abby, Jerry
