Packed ICUs, crowded crematoriums: COVID roils Chinese towns

Relatives carry paper offerings to burn for their dead relative at the Gaobeidian Funeral Home in northern China's Hebei province, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022. [AP Photo]

Yao Ruyan paced frantically outside the fever clinic of a county hospital in China's industrial Hebei province, 70 kilometers (43 miles) southwest of Beijing. Her mother-in-law had COVID-19 and needed urgent medical care, but all hospitals nearby were full.

"They say there's no beds here," she barked into her phone.