Medical workers attend to visitors at a fever clinic converted from a gymnasium in Beijing, Saturday, December 17, 2022. Deaths linked to the coronavirus are appearing in Beijing after weeks of China reporting no fatalities, even as the country is seeing a surge of cases. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)





Medical workers push a man past an ambulance at the Baoding No. 2 Central Hospital in Zhuozhou city in northern China's Hebei province on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)





A patient is turned away from the emergency room due to full capacity at the Baoding No. 2 Central Hospital in Zhuozhou city in northern China's Hebei province on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. China only counts deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official COVID-19 death toll, a Chinese health official said, in a narrow definition that limits the number of deaths reported, as an outbreak of the virus surges following the easing of pandemic-related restrictions. (Photo by Dake Kang/AP Photo)





A man squats outside a treatment room as an elderly person receives help with breathing via a manual ventilator pump at the emergency department of the Baoding No. 2 Central Hospital in Zhuozhou city in northern China's Hebei province on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)





People gather at East Coast Park Precinct as city's skyline is seen during the dusk in Hong Kong on December 20, 2022. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)





Beds for patients are seen in partitioned rooms at a makeshift fever clinic at a stadium amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Beijing on December 20, 2022. (Photo by Jade Gao/AFP Photo)





An elderly woman receives a Covid-19 vaccine in Danzhai, in China's southwestern Guizhou province province on December 21, 2022. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)





A traveler in protective gear at a train station in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. China's broad budget deficit hit a record so far this year, showing how damaging the now abandoned Covid Zero policy and the ongoing housing slump have been to the economy and to the government's finances. (Photo by Bloomberg/Getty Images)





A worker produces red lanterns ahead of New Year's Day in Danzhai, in China's southwestern Guizhou province on December 22, 2022. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)





An ambulance prepares to transfer a patient in critical care to other hospitals due to overcapacity at the emergency department of the Langfang No. 4 People's Hospital in Bazhou city in northern China's Hebei province on Thursday, December 22, 2022. As China grapples with its first-ever wave of COVID mass infections, emergency wards in the towns and cities to Beijing's southwest are overwhelmed. Intensive care units are turning away ambulances, residents are driving sick relatives from hospital to hospital, and patients are lying on floors for a lack of space. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)





A relative in traditional Chinese funeral attire stands near funeral wreaths at the Gaobeidian Funeral Home in northern China's Hebei province, Thursday, December 22, 2022. Bodies from Beijing, a two-hour drive away are appearing at the Gaobeidian funeral home, because similar funeral homes in Beijing were packe. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)





Migratory birds fly over Nanchang Five Stars Siberian Cranes Sanctuary by the Poyang Lake in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province on December 21, 2022. Poyang Lake, the country's largest freshwater lake, is an important wintering spot for migratory birds. In Nanchang Five Stars Siberian Cranes Sanctuary by the Poyang Lake, which has been affected by drought this year, bird lovers have rented a lotus pond, where migratory birds have been attracted for food each year, to provide enough food for the migratory birds in winter. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





Covid-19 coronavirus patients lie on hospital beds in the lobby of the Chongqing No. 5 People's Hospital in China's southwestern city of Chongqing on December 23, 2022. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)





A couple wearing protective masks kiss at a fever clinic of a hospital, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China on December 23, 2022. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)





This photo taken on December 24, 2022 shows people riding scooters on a section of a parched river bed along the Yangtze River in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)





A woman wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) amid the Covid-19 pandemic walks along a street in Beijing on December 26, 2022. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)





Fishermen catch fishes at a fishing site on ice-sealed Chagan Lake on December 26, 2022 in Songyuan, Jilin Province of China. (Photo by Zhang Jingfeng/VCG via Getty Images)





People visit a frozen waterfall illuminated by colorful lights at Dadunxia sceneic area on December 25, 2022 in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province of China. (Photo by Shi Youdong/VCG via Getty Images)





Medical workers in protective suits attend to patients at the fever clinic of China-Japan Friendship hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, China on December 27, 2022. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)





A woman and man ride on a sled on a frozen river in Beijing on December 27, 2022. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)