For years, China was a public health model for successfully preventing the spread COVID-19. Until it wasn't: within the past month, the number of COVID-19 cases exploded. Last week, fifty percent of passengers on two different flights from China to Milan tested positive for COVID-19, according to multiple reports. That number hints at the astonishing grip the SARS-CoV-2 virus has on the world's most populous nation.
Of course, uncontrolled spread means a massive increase in mortality rates due to COVID, too. The situation has become so calamitous that Chinese crematoriums are overwhelmed, with one major crematorium in the district of Longhua reporting five times as much traffic as usual. As a result, some families have been forced to leave the corpses of loved ones in their homes for days while waiting for funeral services.
