(Yicai Global) Dec. 22 -- The rush to hospitals and pharmacies has passed its peak in Chengdu, signaling that the spread of Covid-19 in the major Chinese city is slowing.

Daily numbers at outpatient fever departments in the capital city of Sichuan province have plunged 57 percent since a week ago to 18,000, Huang Hui, deputy director of the municipal health commission, said during a press briefing today.

The number of people diagnosed with Covid-19 and treated by online hospitals has fallen to about 2,900 a day, down from more than 4,800, Huang said, while calls to 24-hour hospital hotlines have fallen to a bit over 6,000 a day from more than 8,000. 

Drug sales also suggest a slowing rate of transmission. Sales of medicines expected to help with Covid-19 symptoms have dropped to about 200,000 boxes a day, shrinking from a peak of 700,000 on Dec. 12. Before Dec. 8, the figure was about 130,000.

Chengdu’s market regulator has been monitoring sales and inventories of 16 local pharmacy chains and their around 4,500 outlets, said Bai Lanbin, the health commission’s medicines director.

The city’s stocks of pandemic-related drugs are basically stable, Bai said. But there are still shortages of medicines used to treat pain, inflammation, and fever such as ibuprofen and paracetamol, and that cannot be resolved in the short term, he added. 

Local drugmakers have a relatively robust production capacity and the current shortage of some drugs is expected to ease in about two weeks as demand wanes and supplies are replenished, Bai added.

Chengdu will be able to survive the impact of this wave of Covid-19, Huang said. The city's healthcare institutions, sufficiently equipped to treat severely ill patients, have so far been providing services in an orderly fashion, guaranteeing care for at-risk groups such as the elderly, people with reduced mobility, children, and pregnant women, Huang added.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi