Grim video from Chinese hospital sounds alarm bells amid alarming Covid spike

The video showed disturbing visuals from a hospital in China. (Image: Screengrab from video tweeted by jenniferzeng97/Twitter)

There is a “thermonuclear bad” situation in China as coronavirus infections increase rapidly, Dr Eric Fiegl-Ding, an American public health scientist said sounding an alarm bell in a long Twitter thread painting a grim picture of the situation in the country.

In a video that has been viewed 11 million times, an overcrowded Covid-19 ward brimming with patients and a handful of medical professionals showcases the crumbling medical infrastructure in the country.

“THERMONUCLEAR BAD—Hospitals completely overwhelmed in China ever since restrictions dropped. Epidemiologist estimate >60% of China & 10% of Earth’s population likely infected over next 90 days. Deaths likely in the millions—plural. This is just the start,” Dr Feigl-Ding retweeted the 21-second clip from Chinese activist Jennifer Zheng.

THERMONUCLEAR BAD—Hospitals completely overwhelmed in China ever since restrictions dropped. Epidemiologist estimate >60 10% of Earth’s population likely infected over next 90 days. Deaths likely in the millions—plural. This is just the start—pic.twitter.com/VAEvF0ALg9

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 19, 2022

The video showed patients in failing health, mostly with oxygen supply on, as doctors and nurses attend to them. All beds were stacked side to side; hardly leaving space between two patients. Patients were also sleeping on the floor, with oxygen and other necessary medical arrangements in place. The remainder space of the small room was stashed with medical equipment.

The scientist clarified on the “thermonuclear bad” situation comment later. He tweeted: “I’m going to pause for a moment—am I saying this will be the start of another “Thermonuclear bad” COVID wave worldwide? Not necessarily via virus directly — but the global economic fallout from China’s new mega tsunami wave will be ugly. You can ignore my words at own peril.”

Feigl-Ding, in the thread, also claimed that the doubling time for infection in China “may not be days anymore.”

“Doubling time in China may not be days anymore. Doubling time now possibly “hours” says some experts — let that sink in. R is hard to calculate if doubling is

He continued: “The deaths in mainland China is being hugely underreported outside of China. Through a survey of hospitals, funeral parlors & related funeral industry chains in Beijing—there is a recent explosion in funeral services caused by the sharp increase in deaths.”

On Covid deaths in China, the scientist said: “1-2 million deaths in China is a very common number lately—I’ve seen the models— it’s certainly possible. It could be higher if government doesn’t do anything, lower if government curbs virus with heavy mitigations again.”

China has not addressed the situation globally, even downplaying official deaths, despite logging more than thousands of cases amid a conflicting reflection of videos showing overcrowded hospitals and crematoriums.

Dr Feigl-Ding also commented on this matter with another video of a hospital filled with dead bodies.

2) Summary of #CCP's current #COVID goal: “Let whoever needs to be infected infected, let whoever needs to die die. Early infections, early deaths, early peak, early resumption of production.” @jenniferzeng97

Dead bodies piled up in NE China in 1 night—pic.twitter.com/nx7DD2DJwN

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 19, 2022

While the government has ramped up on vaccination, there seems no slowing down of the crisis.