From central quarantine facilities to COVID hospitals with enhanced treatment
Buses wait at a makeshift hospital in Jinan, east China's Shandong Province, to take positive cases to quarantine at home.
China will convert some central quarantine facilities into secondary designated COVID hospitals to enhance the treatment of COVID-19 patients, according to the National Health Commission.
Based on the population size of domestic cities, some existing makeshift hospitals, which are mainly used to centrally quarantine positive cases with mild or no symptoms, will be upgraded to have treatment functions.
Some 10 percent of the beds, for instance, will be converted into intensive care beds, Jiao Yahui, director of the commission's Bureau of Medical Administration, told a press briefing on Friday.
Other highlights of the media briefing include:
More ICUs at city-level hospitals
The intensive care units must account for 4 percent of the total number of beds at city-level hospitals. Another 4 percent of the beds can be turned into ICUs within 24 hours.
The number of doctors and nurses for ICUs will be expanded by about 30 percent. The renovation and expansion will be completed by the end of December.
A fever clinic at a Beijing hospital
All hospitals must receive positive cases
All medical institutes must treat equally patients with positive or negative PCR test results. Hospitals will set up separate regions for positive and negative patients.
The focus will be on patients above 65 years with severe underlying diseases, especially those without full COVID vaccinations.
All fever clinics must operate
Hospitals and community health centers are required to open all their fever clinics. Inspection teams will conduct frequent investigations and random checks.
Treatment procedure at the fever clinics has been simplified. Hospitals should set up fever clinics at relatively separate areas.
Free to go to hospitals
No permission from the neighborhood committees, subdistricts or communities is required for fever patients to go to hospitals or fever clinics.
There is no need to call an ambulance, but it's best to avoid using public transport to reduce the risk of transmission.
