A volunteer guides a resident at an elderly care center to use a remote health check and diagnosis platform in Changxing county, Zhejiang province, on Wednesday. The service has been available in 24 such centers in the county. [Photo by Tan Yunfeng/For China Daily]

Authorities are ramping up construction of fever clinics and wards to cope with a sudden surge of COVID-19 patients, an official said on Dec 14.

The National Health Commission has asked all medical facilities ranging from village health rooms to top hospitals to roll out fever wards and clinics after China recently adjusted its COVID-19 control measures, Jiao Yahui, director of the commission's medical administration division, told a news conference in Beijing.

By Wednesday noon, China had about 14,000 fever clinics at second-tier and higher-level hospitals in the country's three-tier hospital rating system, she said.

In addition, there are another 33,000 fever wards at grassroots health institutions, such as community hospitals or village health rooms.

Many places have introduced "streamlined fever clinics" for people lining up for medications to treat COVID-19 symptoms.

The changes come as China braces for a steep increase of COVID-19 patients after authorities recently modified their strategy to deal with the less lethal yet super contagious Omicron subvariants.

The Omicron-fueled outbreaks have strained the supply of fever and cold medicines at pharmacies in cities including Beijing and Guangzhou in Guangdong province as people stock up on such drugs. It also created winding lines of fever patients at hospitals, though many are patients exhibiting just mild symptoms hoping to get some medications as those are often sold out in drugstores.

Jiao said thanks to the recent reforms, the average waiting time at hospital fever clinics has dropped to 40 minutes from more than four hours in some places.

All 31 provincial regions on the mainland have earmarked money to increase the number of critical-care beds, equipment and doctors to cope with the possible surge of patients in serious condition, she said.

The country is working to create a "layered treatment system "for COVID-19 patients, in which grassroots health facilities monitor people's health, second-tier hospitals take care of normal patients, and top hospitals treat those in critical condition, she said.

Internet-based health services, offered 24/7, are also keeping many patients at home.

On Sunday, the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism, the country's COVID-19 control task force, issued a circular asking capable hospitals to offer internet-based services for COVID-19 patients and deliver medicines via couriers.

"Now, places such as Beijing and Shandong province have published a list of medical institutions that can provide such services to help people choose the channel of internet medical care," she said.

The user interface of such services is streamlined, and functions such as speech input have been added for older users, she added.