Shanghai
\nChina\u2019s top health body said on Wednesday the true scale of coronavirus infections in the country is now \u201cimpossible\u201d to track, with officials warning cases are rising rapidly in Beijing after the government abruptly abandoned its zero-Covid policy last week.
\nAfter nearly three years of attempting to stamp out the virus, the sudden end of mass testing and quarantines has led to a corresponding drop in officially reported infections, which hit an all-time high only last month.
\nWith testing no longer required for much of the country, China\u2019s National Health Commission on Wednesday admitted its numbers no longer reflected reality.
\n\u201cMany asymptomatic people are no longer participating in nucleic acid testing, so it is impossible to accurately grasp the actual number of asymptomatic infected people,\u201d the NHC said in a statement.
\nThe statement comes after Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said the capital\u2019s new infections were \u201crapidly growing\u201d, according to state media.
\nChinese leaders are determined to press ahead with opening up, with Beijing\u2019s tourism authority saying on Tuesday that it would resume tour groups in and out of the capital.
\nBut the country is facing a surge in cases that experts fear it is ill-equipped to manage, with millions of vulnerable elderly still not fully vaccinated and underfunded hospitals lacking the resources to deal with an expected influx of infected patients.
\nA line of about 50 people stretched out the door of the Puren fever clinic in Beijing on Wednesday, with multiple residents telling AFP they were infected with Covid.
\n\u201cBasically, if we are lining up here, we are all infected. We would not come here if we weren\u2019t,\u201d one person waiting in line told AFP.
\n\u201cI\u2019m here with a senior member of my family, he\u2019s had a fever for nearly 10 days in a row now, so we are coming to do a checkup on him.\u201d
\nMedicine shortage
\nRestaurants, shops and parks are now allowed to reopen, but residents are finding the path to living with the virus less than straightforward. Many with symptoms have opted to self-medicate at home, while others are staying in to protect themselves from getting infected.
\nAnd businesses are struggling as Covid-19 rips through the population and affects their staffing.
\nAs a result, Beijing\u2019s streets are largely empty.
\nResidents have complained of sold-out cold medicines and long lines at pharmacies, while Chinese search giant Baidu said that searches for fever-reducing Ibuprofen had risen 430 per cent over the past week.
\nSoaring demand for rapid antigen tests and medications has created a black market with astronomical prices, while buyers resort to sourcing the goods from \u201cdealers\u201d whose contacts are being passed around WeChat groups.
\nAuthorities are cracking down, with market regulators hitting one business in Beijing with a 300,000 yuan ($43,000) fine for selling overpriced test kits, the local Beijing News reported on Tuesday.
\nAnd in a sea change for a country where infection with the virus was once taboo and recovered patients faced discrimination, people are taking to social media to show off their test results and give detailed descriptions of their experience while sick.
\n\u201cWhen my body temperature went past 37.2 degrees, I began to add some sugar and salt to my lemon water,\u201d Beijing-based Xiaohongshu social site user \u201cNina\u201d wrote in one account intended as advice for those not yet infected.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve been resurrected!!\u201d wrote another account owner in the caption of a photo showing a row of five positive antigen tests and one negative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shanghai China\u2019s top health body said on Wednesday the true scale of coronavirus infections in the country is now \u201cimpossible\u201d to track, with officials warning cases are rising rapidly in Beijing after the government abruptly abandoned its zero-Covid policy last week. After nearly three years of attempting to stamp out the virus, the sudden end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-301229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n