Guangzhou sees fall in fever patients

Major hospitals in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, have received fewer fever patients in the previous weeks.

Official statistics from Guangzhou city health commission revealed that the city, which once witnessed more than 60,000 fever patients a day, now has about 19,000 fever patients a day.

Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, which received a total of 2,315 fever patients on Dec 21, saw only 991 fever patients last Thursday, a reduction of more than 50 percent.

And the number of the fever patients who went to see doctors in Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine saw a reduction of about 20 percent in the previous week, while the figure in Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital also decreased by about one-third in the past week.

Peng Jie, a senior doctor with Nanfang Hospital Affiliated to Southern Medical University, said the peak period for fever patients has now passed.

Peng's hospital, which once saw more than 1,300 fever patients a day in peak period, now has about 600 fever patients a day.

Guangzhou, which has 1,222 outpatient department and clinics for fever patients, can treat more than 129,000 fever patients a day, according to Guangzhou city health commission.

And health authorities have urged major hospitals and medical institutions to remain on high alert against the pandemic and get ready to cure severe and critical ill patients in the weeks to come, as the number of inpatients and elderly patients witnessed an increase in the previous week.

Zhan Shaofeng, a doctor with the First Hospital Affiliated to Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, said his hospital has seen a fast increase of inpatients, with most being patients older than 65 years, since Dec 20.

Yu Tao, deputy director of emergency department with Sun Yatsen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yatsen University, the number of elderly patients to seek emergency medical help has increased by 2 to 3 times, with between 30 percent and 40 percent being severe and critical ones.

Of them, from 4 to 10 percent are critical ill patients who need to be on a respirator, he said.