Covid: China faces shortages of ibuprofen medicine, people line up outside factories
4 min read 21 Dec 2022, 11:49 AM ISTEpidemiologist and health economist Eric Feigl-Ding said that people are directly going to the factories of the manufacturer and waiting in long line to buy them.People in China line up outside drug factories amid shortages of ibuprofen medicine
PremiumChina is experiencing a sudden surge in coronavirus cases, just a couple of weeks after after the Xi-Jinping government eased the stringent Zero Covid Policy. Projections have suggested the world's second largest economy could now face an explosion of cases and more than a million deaths next year after the abrupt change in course. As reported by The Hong Kong Post, it is certain that the Chinese government was 'under-prepared' as it decided to end its zero-COVID policy abruptly after people held protests across the country.
Now, Epidemiologist and health economist Eric Feigl-Ding has warned that the country is also facing shortage of basic ibuprofen medicine. He said that people are directly going to the factories of the manufacturer and waiting in long line to buy them. The epidemiologist further said that if China has shortage, the rest of the world will have shortage.
In a tweet “Shortages of basic ibuprofen is getting extreme in China too. It is sold out in stores— people are now directly going to the factories of the ibuprofen manufacturers— waiting in long lines to buy them. If China has shortage, the rest of the world will have shortage."
He also shared a video from 19 December, “Westerns think there is a fever and antibiotic shortage now? Wait until China’s production is diverted from exports! Here—people rushed to a pharmaceutical factory to buy ibuprofen because it is completely sold out elsewhere! Dec 18, in #Zhuhai City."
He also shared news which stated that major US pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens are rationing fever medicines. The companies were restricting the sale of children's pain and fever medications due to strong demand.
Also read: Should India panic amid surge in Covid-19 cases in China? Key things to know
In a statement by the companies as cited by The Hill, CVS said that it is limiting the number of pediatric fever-reducing medications sold in stores and online to two per customer. While Walgreens has announced a person can purchase up to six medicines per online transaction to stop excessive purchases.
The companies said that the decision has been taken to stop excessive buying behaviour amid a rise in demand for pediatric fever-reducing medications and an increasing number of cases of multiple illnesses.
Earlier, BBC had also reported that the country was facing problems with stockpiling after the restrictions were eased. Amid reports of shortage, people were rushing to buy ibuprofen, cold medicines and Covid testing kits.
As reported by the China South Morning Post, the country is a major producer and exporter of the active pharmaceutical ingredient used for ibuprofen, and it also accounts for one-third of the global production capacity.
Feigl-Ding has also said that China and the rest of the world are about to spiral back into the pandemic wave in the next 3 months that is likely to see deaths likely in the millions.
The epidemiologist has put statistics to his statement and claimed that studying the current surge in China, the east Asian country's 60 percent population and at least 10 percent of the Earth's population will be infected by the fatal virus.
He added that the deaths in mainland China are hugely underreported outside the country. He added that “Through a survey of hospitals, funeral parlors, and related funeral industry chains in Beijing -- there is a recent explosion in funeral services caused by the sharp increase in deaths."
Speaking of vaccination, China's vaccination rate is above 90 percent, but the rate for adults who have received booster shots drops to 57.9 percent , and to 42.3 percent for people aged 80 and above, government data shows.
Meanwhile, China only counts deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official COVID-19 death toll, a Chinese health official said, in a narrow definition that limits the number of deaths reported, as an outbreak of the virus surges following the easing of pandemic-related restrictions.
Deaths that occur in patients with pre-existing illnesses are not counted as COVID-19 deaths, said Wang Guiqiang, the head of infectious disease at Peking University's No. 1 Hospital.
China has always been conservative in how it counts illnesses, whether from the flu or COVID-19. In most countries, including the United States, guidelines stipulate that any death where COVID-19 is a factor or contributor is counted as a COVID-19-related death.
In effect, Wang’s comments on Tuesday simply clarified publicly what the country has been doing throughout the pandemic. On Wednesday, China reported no new COVID-19 deaths and in fact subtracted one death from the overall toll, lowering it to 5,241, according to a daily tally issued by the National Health Commission, which did not offer an explanation for the decrease.
The clarification of how China officially records COVID-19 deaths comes as cases have soared across the country amid the loosening of restrictions.
