China's Guangzhou increases fever clinics to brace for COVID-19 peak

GUANGZHOU, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, has almost doubled the number of fever clinics as health authorities predicted a peak of COVID-19 cases.

Hospitals in the city have increased the number of fever clinics from 114 to 199, said Zhang Yi, deputy director of the city's health commission.

This brings the city's daily capacity to receive fever patients to 111,000, compared with the previous level of 40,000 fever patients, Zhang told a press conference on Monday.

Recently, about 50,000 patients visited the city's fever clinics a day, the official said.

Meanwhile, the city is on track to raise the number of ICU beds from 455 to 1,385 by Tuesday, she said.

According to expert estimates, the current COVID-19 outbreak will peak in early January in Guangzhou and the city is stocking up medical resources and ramping up treatment capacity in response, the official added.