On video stressed China hospitals show patients getting CPR on flood, doctors collapsing

Beijing, Dec 21: As COVID-19 ravages China, videos of patients being given CPR on the floor and overworked doctors collapsing has gone viral on the social media.

A clip shared on Twitter showed scenes of chaos in the emergency observation room at a hospital in Chonping. Patients continued to lay on the floor receiving chest compressions from machines and groups of doctors according to a report The Telegraph.

The video shows all beds being occupied by patients in a similarly severe condition, intubated and hooked up to ventilators.

In another video shared on the Chinese social media, exhausted doctors can be seen. The doctors can be seen fall asleep as they attend to patients.

The problem in China has shot up due to a surge in COVID-19 numbers. The numbers soared after the government lifted its stringent virus containment policy this month following widespread protests. The government has done away with snap lockdowns, mass testing, tracking and quarantine.

A largely unvaccinated population was left vulnerable due to the abrupt opening up. This has in turn left hospitals and health infrastructure unprepared to handle the mounting caseload. The intensive care units are being expanded in a bid to stop the spread of the virus in hospitals and building fever screening clinics.

Official figures however show a low number of daily new cases and deaths. This many fear is an underestimate due to the scaling down of COVID-19 testing.

China reported 3,101 new symptomatic COVID-19 cases on Tuesday of which 3,049 were domestic cases. With this the total number of confirmed cases with symptoms has reached 386,276.

On Wednesday Beijing said not a single person had died of COVZID-19 after it changed the criteria used to record deaths due to the virus. Only those who die directly of respiratory failure caused due to COVID-19 would be counted under these statistics. The change in criteria was reflected when the country's fatalities were revised and one death was in Beijing was removed from the total tally.

On the other hand reports have shows that crematoriums in China are working round the clock. In Chongqing a crematorium worker said that they had run out of space to keep the bodies.