A combination of measures have been taken to boost access to medical treatment and drugs, improve health services for the elderly and other key groups, accelerate COVID-19 vaccination, and strengthen pandemic prevention and control in rural areas.

The Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, for its part, has set up a second emergency area, expanding the original 44 beds in the emergency room to 70 beds, and installed ventilators, transnasal high-flow oxygenators, infusion pumps and other equipment to ensure that patients with acute and critical illnesses have adequate resources for resuscitation, according to Chen Bing, vice-president of the hospital.

As part of nationwide efforts, the capacity of fever clinics at various levels is being strengthened.

As of Dec 25, the number of fever clinics in second-grade hospitals and above had reached 16,000 in China, while the number of such clinics in grassroots medical institutions totaled 41,000.

The community health service center of Zhangjiawo township in Tianjin's Xiqing district has a separate fever clinic with its own pharmacy.

"We now have sufficient medicine stocks," says Yang Yungui, director of the center.

According to Yang, a special fever medicine bank has been set up, which stores more than 40 types and over 10,000 boxes of anti-inflammatory and antiviral drugs, including those treating high temperatures, coughs and asthma.

"It can guarantee the supply for fever patients and patients with related symptoms for nearly a month," Yang says.

Primary-level medical and health institutions, like the one in Zhangjiawo, have handled nearly 60 percent of fever cases in Xiqing district, greatly relieving the pressure on secondary and tertiary hospitals, according to the Tianjin municipal health commission.