'The ICU is full': medical staff on frontline of China's COVID fight say hospitals are 'overwhelmed'

Bernstein's account reflects similar testimony from medical staff across China who are scrambling to cope after China's abrupt U-turn on its previously strict COVID policies this month was followed by a nationwide wave of infections. "The hospital is just overwhelmed from top to bottom," Bernstein told Reuters at the end of a "stressful" shift at the privately owned Beijing United Family Hospital in the east of the capital. In the past month, Bernstein went from never having treated a COVID patient to seeing dozens a day. Elsewhere in China, medical staff told Reuters that resources are already stretched to the breaking point in some cases, as COVID and sickness levels amongst staff have been particularly high. The National Health Commission did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the concerns raised by medical staff in this article.