Beijing running out of fever medication as Covid outbreak spreads
Beijing is running out of medical supplies as health workers rush to combat a coronavirus outbreak spreading rapidly through the Chinese capital, putting stress on limited resources just as authorities lift pandemic restrictions.
Clinics designated for Covid-19 patients are quickly filling up, and some hospitals have begun rationing ibuprofen and paracetamol. The city’s 22mn residents have emptied pharmacy shelves of fever-reducing medicine and rapid antigen tests.
“We have a child with a high fever but all the pharmacies are out of ibuprofen,” said a Beijing resident surnamed Lin. “It came too fast, we didn’t have time to prepare.”
Ma Han, 28, said he had relied on friends to find medicine and antigen testing kits after his wife developed a fever on Monday. “I looked at all the delivery platforms — Meituan, Ele.me, JD — they either don’t have anything in stock or could not deliver within the day,” he said.
Residents of other Chinese cities have been stockpiling resources amid widespread lockdowns this year. A new report from Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel tracking the behaviour of consumers in China showed purchases of instant noodles rose 18 per cent in the first nine months of this year.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Thomas Hale
