China’s sales index drops to 22-month-low as COVID lockdown cuts growth
According to survey data released Thursday, April 21, the COVID-19 lockdown has taken a deep toll on China’s economy last month, and the situation is no brighter as the measure prolongs through the most of April by far. As World Economics reports, the Sales Managers Index (SMI) of China drops to ...
Shanghai sends older adults into quarantine camps, causes public outrage
China's leading official in the anti-Covid response, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, has stated that officials will send anyone infected with Covid-19 and their close contacts to quarantine centers. That means even the elderly with underlying health issues will spend 14 days in isolation sites on their own. CNN reported on April ...
Beijing unlikely to join global COVID-19 Summit: Experts
The White House announced that the U.S., along with Germany, Indonesia, Belize, and Senegal, will co-host the second COVID-19 Global Summit on May 12. The event aims to end the pandemic and prepare for future health threats. So far, China hasn't confirmed its attendance. The White House said, "the emergence and ...
Taiwan to make its utmost effort to attend WHA as an observer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on April 21 that Taiwan would make its utmost effort to attend the May 22-28 World Health Assembly or WHA as an observer. According to the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China kept blocking Taiwan from attending the annual World Health event in Geneva, Switzerland, ...
Cities in China remain on lockdown, people suffer
While China's largest financial city remains on lockdown, many places on the mainland are under strict control. Apart from Shanghai, Dongxing city in Guangxi has been sealed for more than 50 days since February 24. The city enters a state of home isolation. Compared with other regions, the outbreak in Dongxing city ...
Shanghai people create noise to demand supplies, refuse nucleic acid tests
Public resistance has increased in the face of non-stop covid controls and blockades. On April 18, a video on the internet shows residents from many districts banging gongs and drums to ask for supplies. The majority of residents of several communities in Shanghai collectively refused nucleic acid testing. Some people said that ...
Tangshan, Hebei’s residents scramble for supplies as Omicron spreads
Tangshan City, Hebei Province, Mainland China, was shut down on April 18 after 76 local infections in two days, and the Tangshan government acted swiftly to close the city. The virus causing chaos is Omicron BA.2, the current epidemic virus strain. Tangshan city, Hebei province, consisting of two cities and one ...
China pledges strict ‘zero-Covid,’ rules out any relaxations despite residents’ suffers
Ma Xiaowei, China's health minister also director of China's National Health Commission, has doubled down on the Zero Covid policy. He pledged the strictest measures to curb the outbreak and ruled out any relaxations. On Apr 18, the minister published an article in the Study Times, a Central Party School journal. The ...
Shanghai isolates negative-tested newborns under one-month old
Newborn babies under one-month-old in Shanghai are being forcibly taken to quarantine cabins, regardless of whether the isolation points have suitable conditions for their physical recovery. Apollo News, citing a post on an online help platform, reported on April 18 that they were residents of Lane 44, Xiangyang North Road. The ...
Philippine Ambassador to China dies while in quarantine for COVID-19
On April 19, the Philippine Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the country's ambassador to China, Jose Santiago "Chito" Sta. Romana died at the age of 74 during quarantine in Huangshan City, Anhui Province. No specific cause of death is mentioned. The Philippine embassy in China coordinates with Beijing authorities ...
China to persist with its ‘Zero Covid’ policy, China health officials
China's top health officials said the country would hold on to its Covid Zero approach, even as the second-largest economy is struggling with lockdowns, quarantine, and testing rules. The country's top health advisers stated that this is necessary to fight back against the virus and secure long-term economic development. For example, Wu ...
Shanghai’s Executive Vice Mayor apologizes for inconvenience of nucleic acid screening
As of April 19, the number of people infected with COVID in Shanghai has reached hundreds of thousands since a new outbreak began. In the past two weeks, the number of confirmed cases in Shanghai has continued to soar high. From the data released by Shanghai officials, the percentage of asymptomatic ...
2 Shanghai officials accused of distributing poor-quality pork meat to residents investigated
In Shanghai, two officials were investigated on April 19 for their irresponsibility in distributing necessities to residents. China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection named Ren Weiping, deputy mayor of Meilong Town, Minhang District, and Li Shuang, director of the Economic Development Office. The department's report showed that these two officials had ...
California delays school vaccine mandate and propose to eliminate ‘belief’ exemption
California was on track to require COVID-19 vaccination for all students, including those who have filed religious exemptions. On April 14, the California Department of Public Health announced they would delay the mandates for schools until the 2023-2024 school year. Gov. Gavin Newsom had announced last fall that the state would require children ...
Extended lockdown questioned after multiple suicides across Mainland China
One of the world’s most significant human rights abusers vowed to keep confining tens of millions of people to their homes despite a rising number of intentional deaths. A Beijing leader refuses to remove coronavirus (Chinese Communist Party or CCP virus) restrictions altogether, even though many citizens have already taken their ...
Foreign Chambers raise concerns with China over COVID control policy
Eight foreign trade groups from Europe, Germany, Japan, South Korea, U.K. Chambers, AmCham China, AmCham Shanghai, and the U.S.-China Business Council met with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Monday, April 18. As Bloomberg reported, the representatives discussed with Wang the economic impact of China's zero-Covid policy. Jens Hildebrandt, executive director of ...
Shanghai government sets’ zero covid’ target on April 20
Chinese officials set April 20 as the turning point of "zero-COVID at the community level" in Shanghai, allowing the city to ease its lockdown, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on April 17. The move came after Shanghai implemented its citywide lockdown in early April. Under the zero-COVID policy, people ...
China’s third aircraft carrier launch delayed due to Shanghai’s COVID outbreak
As the South China Morning Post reported on April 17, the Chinese third aircraft carrier Type 003, may launch behind schedule due to the lockdown in Shanghai. The launch was expected near the 73rd anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Navy, on April 23. However, one of the sources, who requested ...
Shanghai official raises voice against state’s anti-epidemic strategy
Yang Hai is a Minhang District People's Congress representative. On April 15, he publicly boycotted the state's mass testing plan. Yang Hai wrote that since March 13, all residents of the Pingyang Liucun community had undergone 13 nucleic acid tests and nine antigen tests. He noticed that the more they ...
Discord among neighbors escalates in locked-down Shanghai
Frustration is building up strong as Shanghai residents start contending with each other on another day of lockdown. This time, while access to food and medicine remain scarce, tension rises toward Covid-positive residents. As Reuters reported, a woman was upset because she was forced into the city's quarantine center after a ...
