Updates on China’s COVID Situation (January 5, 2022)

(Minghui.org) Many travelers from countries near China have tested positive for COVID. The situation inside China is still very serious, with medicine in short supply, and hospitals and crematories overwhelmed.

Japan

According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, among the 56 inbound air travelers who tested positive on January 3, 53 were from China. The day before, all 26 infected inbound air travelers came from China.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on January 4 that all visitors from China must provide evidence of a negative test result before boarding the flight, starting from January 8. Upon arrival, a PCR test is also required. Furthermore, he said that airlines would not increase the number of direct flights from mainland China.

South Korea

According to the South Korea CDC, 2,189 tourists have arrived in the country from China since January 2. Among the 590 travelers who were randomly selected for testing, 136 (22.7%) tested positive.

After one Chinese man arrived at Incheon Airport on January 3 and tested positive, he escaped while being sent to a quarantine site later that day. South Korean authorities arrested him two days later.

Hong Kong

The Chinese authorities announced reopening the border with Hong Kong for the first time in three years, starting on January 8. Worried about new COVID variants from mainland China, Hong Kong residents have rushed to get vaccinated, and many vaccination sites have been fully booked.

When interviewed by VOA, Hong Kong resident Tan said she had COVID medicines at home already. After a family member was recently injured, she needed to purchase pills for joint pain. She was afraid it would be difficult to get pain medicine later so she bought it early.

Tan noticed that many Hong Kong residents have been rushing to stockpile medicines in the past few weeks due to the upcoming border reopening, and the recent increase in cases in mainland China. She could not understand why the border would be reopened amid the severe COVID situation in China.

China

The COVID situation remains grave in China. Below is an update from Mudanjiang City in Heilongjiang Province, and Sichuan Province.

Mudanjiang City

After COVID broke out in mid-December again, most residents in Mudanjiang City developed symptoms, including fever, cough, widespread pain, fatigue, and loss of taste and smell. The medicines for fever, cough, and inflammation are in short supply, as are thermometers. Hospitals are packed and their hallways are crowded with beds. Many medical workers were infected and some still reported to work.

The crematories in Mudanjiang and the one county and five cities under its administration are unusually busy. One worker said his facility normally cremates eight to ten bodies per day, and no more than twenty. But since mid-December, the number has risen to fifty or sixty per day. Since late December, the number has doubled to over one hundred per day.

One netizen said his coworker had fever due to COVID and later died. After his body was sent to Mudanjiang First Funeral Home on January 2, his family was told that cremation was scheduled for 2 a.m. on January 5. They were also told that the cause of death could not be recorded as COVID. Any other death cause is allowed except for COVID, because CVOID would require layers upon layers of review and may not be approved. Because of this, his family and the crematory had no choice but to follow the policy.

Another person said that an elderly neighbor of his had died at home. By law, the family would call 120 (equivalent to 911 in the U.S.) for a medical emergency team to come and verify the death, and issue a death certificate before cremation arrangements can be made. The family, however, was told by the 120 operator that all ambulances had been dispatched. They had no choice but to call the police, who referred them to their local community administration, which directed them to call 120 again. In the end, an ambulance came four hours later and a death certificate was issued. But when the family attempted to call the Mudanjiang First Funeral Home, they either heard a busy signal or no one picked up the phone. In the end, they had to turn to an out of town crematory to have the body cremated.

Because of COVID, hardly anyone is on the streets except for those who are commuting to work, shopping for groceries, or seeking medical treatment. The majority of people in many neighborhoods have tested positive already, although the symptoms vary. Few infected people go to hospitals now because the hospitals are all very crowded and doctors cannot do much due to shortage of medicine. Very often, people share fever medicine between friends and relatives. Some have no choice but to buy expensive fever medicines from the black market just to survive.

Sichuan Province

Information obtained by Minghui readers on January 2 said that funeral homes in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province had too many bodies to process so they transferred some to Guanghan, a county-level city 60 kilometers (37 miles) away. They charged families 5,000 yuan more for the out of town cremation. Soon Guanghan funeral homes also became overwhelmed and stopped accepting out of town bodies. Chengdu city then shipped bodies to Jintang County, 75 kilometers (47 miles) away.

All furnaces in Jintang County crematories are running around the clock. One worker said they had no time for meals and could only snack on bread and milk. Their crematory has been fully booked to January 8, and they no longer accept bodies from other areas.

The nitrogen smell of burning bodies lingers in the air. The infection rate in Chengdu City is very high and almost every household has some infected. Some households have all family members infected with COVID.