‘This is just the start’, says Covid expert as medicines run out of stores in US, Europe

Millions of people could die in the next three months as a result of a new coronavirus pandemic wave that is set to re-enter China and the rest of the world, according to epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding.

Feigl-Ding has claimed that, after limitations were lifted, hospitals in China are entirely overloaded. Infected people will make up 10% of the world's population and more than 60% of China's population during the next three months, according to epidemiologists. There is a probability of millions of deaths. “This is just the start,” he tweeted.

“Wuhan was our lesson 3 years ago. The global fallout of this 2022-2023 wave will not be small,” he warned.

Feigl-Ding shared a series of tweets to show “What happens in China doesn’t stay in China”. He shared news that major US pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens were restricting the sale of children's pain and fever medications due to strong demand.

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In a statement, Walgreens said it had established a limit of six per online transaction to avoid excessive purchase. CVS said it would limit the number of child pain relief items offered in-store and online to two per consumer.

“This will get worse,” said Feigl-Ding while noting that pharmacies are running out of such medications in regions of Europe, the US, Canada and China.

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China is experiencing severe shortages of generic ibuprofen, he said. People are now travelling directly to the ibuprofen makers' factory and waiting in lengthy lines to get them because the product is sold out in stores. The rest of the world will experience a shortage if China does, he added.

“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!” he tweeted.

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In reply to Feigl-Ding’s tweets, one user shared a photo of empty racks at a Walmart store in New York. “The children’s medication section at a Walmart in New York State on Saturday. It’s very bleak for parents right now,” the user wrote.

Not everyone is buying Eric’s take on the pandemic situation around the world. Some of them are calling it “panic propaganda”. “We proudly present the master of panic propaganda with dubious sources: Eric Feigl-Ding,” wrote one user.