COVID-19 severe cases on decline

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 severe cases in China has been slowly trending downward since Jan 5, but remains at a high level, a health official said on Saturday.

Jiao Yahui, head of the National Health Commission's medical administration bureau, during a news conference said that the number of serious hospitalized infections peaked on Jan 5 at 128,000 and then fell to around 105,000 on Thursday.

She said that the occupancy rate of critical care beds stood around 75.3 percent on Thursday — lower than the alerting threshold of 80 percent — and that the country's critical care bed capacity can meet demands.

Nearly 92.8 percent of the serious patients at the hospitals on Thursday also suffered serious preexisting illnesses, and only 7 percent were in severe condition due to a COVID-19 infection alone.

She added that the majority of severe COVID-19 cases are elderly and people with multiple chronic diseases.

As surging trips made by migrant workers during the Spring Festival holiday has triggered concerns over the medical capacity of China's vast countryside, Jiao said that county-level authorities are required to set up a task force dedicated to transferring severe cases to higher-level hospitals.

Each township-level health clinic should be equipped with an ambulance, she said, adding that progress is being made to build their inventories of antiviral pills and strengthening treatment capability of grassroots health clinics.