China vows tit for tat for countries imposing Covid travel curbs, Beijing runs out of beds: What's new
A senior doctor at one of Shanghai’s top hospitals said 70 percent of its population is infected right now. Photo: Reuters
In response to several countries making Covid negative report mandatory for Chinese travellers, China has said that it would take countermeasures against the nations involved.
"We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a briefing.
The restrictions: More than 12 countries including India and USA have imposed mandatory screening or a negative test report of Covid and other norms for passengers coming in from China. This is done because of the incomplete data that China is providing about its Covid situation and hence the fear of new potential variants.
Here's a list of countries that have imposed restrictions in some form or other on passengers coming in from China:
- Italy
- The United States
- France
- United Kingdom
- Spain
- Australia
- Canada
- India
- Japan
- South Korea
- Malaysia
- Israel
- Qatar
- Morocco
Here's what China said in return:
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg, that it would hit back at nations that placed Covid restrictions on its travelers for "political goals"
However, the United States' response to China's threat to impose more travel restrictions is that China needs to make sensible decisions.
Covid situation in China:
Since China ceased providing statistics on Covid cases, experts have struggled to determine the number of Covid cases in the nation. According to Aljazeera, WHO's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, has indicated that whatever data is coming out of the nation is undoubtedly skewed.
READ MORE: Wary China stops publishing Covid data after leaked numbers say they have 250 million cases
China runs out of hospital beds: Hospitals in Beijing are running out of beds as an increasing number of Covid patients are flock to clinics. Patients were seen lying on stretchers in hallways and taking oxygen while sitting in wheelchairs.
视频【帝都朝阳医院内景】1 pic.twitter.com/O0z3jJze0K
— 章立凡 Zhang Lifan (@zhanglifan) December 26, 2022
On Thursday, the Chuiyangliu hospital in Beijing ran out of beds by midmorning even as ambulances continued to bring more patients, reported India Today.