A week into China's easing, uncertainty over virus direction
A week after China dramatically eased some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 containment measures, uncertainty remains over the direction of the pandemic in the world’s most populous nation
BEIJING (AP) — A week after China dramatically eased some of the world's strictest COVID-19 containment measures, uncertainty remained Thursday over the direction of the pandemic in the world's most populous nation.
While there are no official indications yet of the massive surge of critically ill patients some feared, social media posts, business closures and other anecdotal evidence suggest huge numbers of people are being infected. In Beijing and elsewhere, there was a rush on cold medication and testing kits. Some hospital staff are staying home, while others are back to work after being infected.
Meanwhile, as people take to the internet to share dubious “remedies,” various everyday products have seen sales skyrocket. A run on canned yellow peaches, seen as particularly nutritious, prompted one of the largest producers to write on social media that they are not medicine and that there is plenty of supply.
After years of trying to track the virus down to every last infection, the government now says that's essentially impossible — but it's not clear what that means for reporting the most serious cases.
