Ms. Zheng, a resident in Hunan, told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times she suspects the chain of interest between the corrupt officials and the businesses has quickly shifted from nucleic acid tests to over-the-counter drugs following the new policy announcement.
Shift of Interest in Supply Chain
Beijing demanded that local governments rectify excessive lockdown measures after the anti-lockdown protests erupted in late November, and so multiple local governments have reportedly eased off their pandemic control measures.Under the new COVID-19 guidelines, people who test positive with mild or no symptoms can quarantine at home, and people traveling within the country no longer need a negative PCR test result dated within 48 hours.
Zheng explained that Beijing seemed to ease the measures, but not all local governments have followed suit.
She said, “There are places still demanding the PCR test results … They would not obey Xi [Jinping], because it implicated the money chain. There have been a lot of corrupt officials and businesses who benefited from the previous containment measures.”
She believes that along with the new guidelines, a new chain has been formed. “My friend at the government has notified us [via Weibo] three times to ‘stock up on medicine,’” she said, the testing [requirement] is gone, and so the profits have shifted to the [sale of] medicine.
The N95 masks are no longer available in her community, and there’s a wide shortage of masks throughout China.
Ms. Li from Harbin told The Epoch Times on the 7th that even vitamin C became so popular that it’s now out of stock.
Fever Clinics Closed
Zheng indicated that after the sudden ease of the COVID-19 policy, people realized that local hospitals have also closed their fever clinics.She said, “It’s a new phenomenon, the [community] hospitals were closed. It’s a crisis. My neighboring complex had new infections, but they’re not reported. [So that means] There’s ‘zero-COVID.’”
She said the new change took place too quickly.
She heard there would be a change in the COVID policy, “It’s said so when the [anti-lockdown] movement just started, but I did not expect it to happen so quickly and suddenly,” she said.
Several days ago, she tried to inform her local pharmacies to stock up on supplies. Now people are queuing at the pharmacies trying to get medicines, “But many drugs were already gone,” she said.
What the Drug Stores Say
The Epoch Times consulted a number of Chinese drug stores and hospitals.Staff of a Beijing drug store at Shaoyaoju, Chaoyang District, said: “Lianhua Qingwen is out of stock, all the cold medicines are sold out, and there are COVID-19 test kits. With the lift of the lockdown, everyone is panicking, and they are all rushing [to buy drugs].”
A Shanghai drug store worker on West Yan'an Road, Changning District, said: “Lianhua Qingwen has been out of stock for several months, some common cold medicine is still available, and COVID-19 test kit is out of stock. I don’t know when it will be available.”
A Changsha pharmacy worker on Xiangya Road, Kaifu District, said, Lianhua Qingwen is out of stock, and I don’t know when it will be available. The testing kits are also out of stock. I don’t know what the situation is, so we can only wait.”
Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Guangzhou said: “PCR testing can be done, but you’ll need an appointment. There is no Lianhua Qingwen.”
A worker at Guangzhou Liuyi Children’s Hospital said: “The fever department is closed.” All fever departments are closed except for general hospitals at the city level and above, according to the medical staff.
The Children’s Hospital of Yuexiu District in Guangzhou said: “The fever clinic has been closed for several months.” What if a child has had a fever for three days? The staff said not to visit them, but to go to a general hospital.
The Epoch Times called the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, a general hospital, but the phone at the service desk was not answered.
Price Gouging and Hoarding
People are frightened, Zheng said, “because the clinics are closed, people have no place to find out whether or not they are infected. But the medicines are at 5 to 10 times the cost of their original prices, both online and offline.”She suspects there is personal interests behind the shortage of medicines in the market.
She said: “I have visited some warehouses, and there were drugs piled up all over the warehouses; but there’s none in the market. This is how the government plays—a unified control of medicines, PCR test kits, N95 masks—it comes with huge benefits.”
“On the one hand, it’s said to sell by market price; but, there’s no medicine in the market,” she explained.
The price of Lianhua Qingwen has also gone up on e-commerce platforms such as JD.com and Tmall.
According to a Chinese media report, the price of a single box of Lianhua Qingwen (48 capsules) in Jingdong Pharmacy is 102 yuan (about $14.66), which is 240 percent higher than the usual price of 30 yuan (about $4.31).
The market supervision departments in Beijing, Hangzhou, and other places have recently issued warnings about price gouging and hoarding and a fine of up to 5 million yuan (about $720,000) for doing so.
