Cities nationwide are bracing for peaks of COVID-19 infections by adding critical-care beds and expanding the capacity of fever clinics ahead of the Chinese New Year travel rush in January.

The preparations came after central authorities cut many testing and isolation requirements in November in an attempt to coordinate economic growth with control of outbreaks of the highly contagious, yet less lethal, Omicron subvariants.

Patients in their cars are given intravenous drips to treat fever at a clinic in Ruili, Yunnan province, on Saturday. Cities nationwide are bracing for peaks of COVID-19 infections by adding critical-care beds and expanding the capacity of fever clinics.

 The race to build such facilities has led to tight supplies of breathing and electrocardiogram monitoring machines, according to Nanfang Metropolis Daily.

The Beijing municipal government recently said the number of the city's fever clinics had increased from 94 to almost 1,300, through methods such as bringing in prefabricated rooms and transforming sports centers into makeshift hospitals. Shanghai has 2,600 such clinics and has transferred doctors from less-strained medical departments to help out.

Meanwhile, the National Health Commission said on Sunday that it will stop publishing infection data and hand over the task to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Liang Wannian, a senior expert with the commission, said China is taking "small yet continuous steps" to optimize its COVID-19 strategy.