People have queued outside fever clinics at China’s hospitals for COVID-19 checks, a new sign of the rapid spread of symptoms after authorities began dismantling stringent measures against the disease.

Three years into the pandemic, China is moving to align with a world that has largely opened up to live with COVID, making a major policy change last Wednesday after unprecedented protests against its stifling curbs.

It has dropped testing prior to many activities, reined in quarantine and was preparing on Monday to deactivate a mobile app used to track the travel histories of a population of 1.4 billion people.

Authorities continue to urge mask-wearing and vaccinations, particularly for the elderly.

Fragile health system

But with little exposure to a disease kept largely in check until now, China is ill-prepared, analysts say, for a wave in infections that could heap pressure on its fragile health system and drive businesses to a halt.

Lily Li, who works at a toy company in the southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, said several employees, as well as staff at suppliers and distributors, had been infected and were at home isolating themselves.

“Basically everybody is now simultaneously rushing to buy rapid antigen test kits but has also somewhat given up on the hope that COVID can be contained,” she said.

“We have accepted that we will have to get COVID at some point anyway.”

People huddled in cold outside fever clinic

In Beijing, the capital, about 80 people huddled in the cold outside a fever clinic in the upmarket district of Chaoyang as ambulances zipped past.

Reuters witnessed similar queues outside clinics in the central city of Wuhan, where COVID-19 first emerged three years ago.

The numbers of patients waiting to be admitted into emergency and fever clinics were growing, a doctor who works in a respiratory department at a Beijing hospital was quoted by the state-backed Global Times newspaper on Sunday as saying.

In recent weeks, local cases have trended lower since a late November peak of 40,052, official figures show, however. Sunday’s tally of 8626 was down from 10,597 cases the previous day.

But the figures reflect the dropping of testing requirements, say analysts, while Chinese health expects have warned of an imminent surge.

In comments on Monday in the state-backed newspaper Shanghai Securities News, Zhang Wenhong, head of a team of experts in the commercial hub, said the current outbreak could peak in a month, though an end to the pandemic might be three to six months away.

-Reuters