"Ahead of the Lunar New Year", China manages elderly people with underlying diseases as "COVID-19 severe cases"

China ramps up medical response to COVID-19 virus for the elderly ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, the biggest Lunar New Year.

China's National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine announced on January 13th that in the latest version (4th edition) of the "Treatment Plan for Severe and Critical Cases of the COVID-19 Virus", "The symptoms of infected people are severe. Even if the diagnostic criteria are not met, if the age is over 65, the vaccination has not been completed, and there is a relatively serious chronic disease, it will be managed as a severe case."

Considering the possibility of the infection spreading mainly among the elderly in rural areas during the Lunar New Year holidays on the 22nd, it is interpreted as a measure to focus the nation's medical capabilities on preventing severe cases in high-risk groups.

The Global Times, a Chinese government-run newspaper, said on the 14th, "This measure is an extension of China's shifting the focus of its COVID-19 response strategy from infection prevention to health preservation and prevention of severe illness. It will enable more frontline medical workers to save more lives."