Chinese city increases 'fever clinics' to brace for Covid peak

BEIJING: China's Guangzhou city, capital of Guangdong province, has almost doubled the number of 'fever clinics' as health authorities have predicted a peak of Covid-19 cases amid an ongoing nationwide resurgence.

Hospitals in the city have increased the number of fever clinics from 114 to 199, Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang Yi, deputy director of the city's health commission, as saying to reporters.

This brings the city's daily capacity to receive fever patients to 111,000, compared with the previous level of 40,000 fever patients, she said.

Recently, about 50,000 patients visited the city's fever clinics a day, the official said.

Meanwhile, the city is on track to raise the number of ICU beds from 455 to 1,385 by Tuesday, she said.

According to expert estimates, the current Covid-19 outbreak will peak in early January 2023 in Guangzhou and the city is stocking up medical resources and ramping up treatment capacity in response, the official added.