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Reuters
Reuters
Health
By Farah Master and David Stanway

China lacked a 'zero COVID' exit plan. Its people are paying the price

FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective masks line up outside a fever clinic of a hospital, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 20, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song

At the public hospital in Shanghai where Nora, a 30-year-old doctor, works, tension has spiraled since China relaxed its stringent zero-COVID policy on Dec. 7.

Patients quarrel with doctors to access drugs that are in short supply, like cough medicines and pain killers. Medics are overloaded; infected staff continue to work because of a scarcity of personnel.

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