Beijing's abrupt COVID policy shift, while cheered by some, has also sparked apprehension in the country where there is a relatively low vaccination rate and people have been taught to fear the disease.
Some stocks have been replenished, Reuters found on a visit, with cold-relief drugs like Ibuprofen available at many pharmacies.
"There will certainly be increasing numbers of infections" in coming weeks, regardless of how many are captured in the test numbers, said Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at Hong Kong University.China has 138,100 hospital beds for critical care, a health official said recently, low for China's vast population.And just as more COVID patients are recovering at home, Baoding has been hit by a winter-heating supply crunch, adding to the risk of serious illness.
A Baoding resident named Wang, 20, said the temperature in her home was just 18 degrees Celsius. Two members of her family had COVID-19. But the appeal to the elderly to better protect themselves appears to have been diluted by the simultaneous message that the Omicron variant is not lethal.Yang, 64, refrained from stocking up. "I have no fear" of COVID, said Yang, a farmer who is fully vaccinated and with no underlying diseases.
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