Amid rising COVID cases in China, hospitals filling up fast

The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed alarm over the rapid detection of Covid cases in China and noted that the country's hospitals are quickly becoming overcrowded.

Despite Beijing officials' claims that patient numbers are "relatively modest," Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme declared that the intensive care units (ICU) have been busy.

Despite the fact that no Covid deaths were recorded on December 21, there have been questions regarding the virus's true impact.

China has seen an increase in coronavirus cases ever since the strict Covid regulations were relaxed the previous week as a result of massive protests.

According to reports, the BF.7 sub-variant of the omicron is thought to be the primary cause of the current increase in Covid infections in China.

The same variant was dominant in the United States and several European countries in October.

China has been closely monitoring the omicron subvariants circulating throughout the country, according to Xu Wenbo, director of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, on December 20.

Also read: Centre asks states to bolster genome sequencing amid spurt in global Covid-19 cases