China's nursing homes are fighting an uphill battle to keep their elderly residents safe as a wave of Covid-19 infections sweeps the country following a relaxation of the government's zero-tolerance virus policy. Facilities are locking themselves off from the outside world with staff sleeping on site, while struggling to get their hands on drugs. Experts fear the country is ill-equipped to manage the "exit wave" of infections as it presses ahead with reopening, with millions of vulnerable elderly people still not fully vaccinated. And eldercare facilities have now been left to fend for themselves as society reopens, the manager of one privately run Beijing home said. "We've had hundreds of patients, with a number of patients coming from nursing homes and in their 90s," though there appeared to be few severe cases, one nurse at a Beijing hospital, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.

Source: The Standard December 18, 2022 11:27 UTC