Beijing hospitals, clinics busy amid COVID surge

Hospitals in Beijing are rapidly trying to expand the capacity of their fever clinics to cope with a surge in patients due to COVID-19 infections. The sudden spike has placed enormous strain on medical resources and hospitals, including the capital's Chaoyang Hospital.

The hospital has also converted some wards to receive patients in critical conditions and rearrange resources to treat the COVID-19 patients and ease the pressure of the emergency department. The number of beds in the emergency room has been increased to 70 from an original 16.

Facing the surge of fever patients, Beijing has increased the number of fever clinics from 94 to over 1,200. On Wednesday, World Health Organization said the agency is “very concerned” about rising reports of severe coronavirus disease across China.