COVID patients fill ICUs in China’s hospitals

STORY: Medical workers in Wuhan and Yichang were attending to filled intensive care units with patients requiring oxygen masks and lung scans as hospitals were forced to extend their capacity, according to CCTV.

Having imposed the world’s strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and relentless testing for three years, China reversed course this month towards living with the virus, leaving its fragile health system overwhelmed.

China officially reported one new COVID death for Wednesday (December 28), down from three on Tuesday (December 27), but foreign governments and many epidemiologists believe the numbers are much higher, and that more than 1 million people may die next year.