Rural China is experiencing COVID like never before

Rural doctors provide free treatment to an elderly villager

Rural doctors provide free treatment to an elderly villager Source: Getty / VCG

China’s dramatic, sudden, abandonment of its Zero-Covid policy has sent the virus through the country’s population at great speed. With a shortage of ICU capacity, big city hospitals have struggled to cope. The government admitted to 13,000 COVID-related deaths last week. But while the government has been accused of underplaying the death toll in large population centres, as .... reports, in poorer rural areas with only meagre medical facilities – even less is known about the number of deaths as a result of Covid-19.


This story was first produced for the BBC World Service.

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