INSIGHT: GREATER CHINA - China’s fragile rural health-care system braces for Chinese New Year

JANUARY 19, 2023 INSIGHT: GREATER CHINA China’s fragile rural health-care system braces for Chinese New Year travel upheaval THE TAKEAWAY the countryside, there are higher numbers of elderly people, people living with disabilities, and young The annual Spring Festival travel rush in China children. [...] The Spring Festival travel rush, or 18 per cent of the country’s population, were running January 7 to February 15, brings worries of infected in the first 20 days of December 2022. [...] On a national to have been relaxed for the January 14, 2023, data level, there are growing concerns that higher inflation release: the 59,938 deaths included 5,503 who died will reach China soon and drive up the costs of living directly from respiratory failure, with the remainder during an already difficult winter. [...] The challenges of caring for an aging transparency will be a dangerous combination in low- society are once again in the spotlight, as reports of resource communities. [...] cities are returning to “normal.” Gatherings and The emphasis on data collection in the State Council’s celebrations will occur while infections spread and work plan points to the authorities’ concern about the death toll climbs throughout the Spring Festival being unable to grasp the full scope of outbreaks holidays, with pandemic experiences likely shaped across rural China.