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☆ China COVID deaths accelerate to 9,000 a day - UK research firm Airfinity
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Cumulative deaths in China since Dec. 1 likely reached 100,000 with infections totalling 18.6 million, Airfinity said in a statement. Airfinity expects China's COVID infections to reach their first peak on Jan. 13 with 3.7 million cases a day. Airfinity expects deaths to peak on Jan. 23 around 25,000 a day, with cumulative deaths reaching 584,000 since December. Since Dec. 7 when China made its abrupt policy U-turn, authorities have reported 10 COVID deaths. Airfinity expects 1.7 million deaths across China by the end of April, according to its statement.

China has said it only counts deaths of COVID patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related. The holiday travel rush is expected to last for 40 days, from Jan. 7 to Feb. 15, the Ministry of Transport said this week. China's official death toll of 5,246 since the pandemic began compares with more than 1 million deaths in the United States. The United States, India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan said they would require COVID tests for travellers from China. Omicron was still the dominant strain in China, Chinese health officials said this week.

☆ Chinese hospitals 'extremely busy' as COVID spreads unchecked
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Martin Quin Pollard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Staff at Huaxi, a big hospital in the southwestern city of Chengdu, said they were extremely busy caring for patients with COVID, as they have been ever since curbs were eased on Dec. 7. There were long queues inside and outside the hospital’s emergency department and at an adjacent fever clinic on Tuesday evening. “Almost all of the patients have COVID,” one emergency department pharmacy staff member said. Zhang Yuhua, an official at the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, said most recent patients were elderly and critically ill with underlying diseases. She said the number of patients receiving emergency care had increased to 450-550 per day, from about 100 before, according to state media.

☆ China turns to lemons, peaches and traditional medicine in wake of Covid wave
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Farmers sort and package lemons at a workshop on November 24, 2020 in Neijiang, Sichuan Province of China. Covid cases in China saw a spike following the country's relaxation of strict Covid rules. Also rising: the prices of traditional Chinese medicine and lemons, as Chinese citizens scramble for protection from the virus. "I did not know that lemon prices could triple in one day," posted another Weibo user. Fresh Hippo, another e-commerce merchant owned by Alibaba, reported that week-on-week sales of canned yellow peaches popped almost 900%.

The country spent big on quarantine and testing facilities over the past three years rather than bolstering hospitals and clinics and training medical staff, these people said. "There is no transition time for the medical system to prepare for this," said Zuofeng Zhang, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. The failure to boost vaccination rates among the vulnerable could imperil China's health system, more than a dozen experts said. The death of a 23-year-old medical student in Chengdu on Dec. 14 fueled public ire at the strain on China's health system. Chen Jiming, a researcher at China's Foshan University, said there was every chance that China's medical system could cope now that the country has ended quarantine for asymptomatic and mild cases.

☆ These are 10 most popular fighter planes in service around the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Miguel Ortiz | We Are The Mighty | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Using data from Cirium, FlightGlobal published their 2023 World Air Forces directory detailing military aircraft fleets around the world, including the most popular fighter planes. These are the 10 most popular fighter planes in service around the world:Northrop F-5An F-5 Tiger II takes off at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada. Despite its age, the J-7 remains extremely popular with 444 in active service. 522 Typhoons are in active service, including with all of the original collaborating countries except France. 545 F-35s are in active service, with more on the way as existing orders are filled and additional orders are placed.

☆ BioNTech ships COVID shots to China for use by Germans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BioNTech said it is working with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (600196.SS) to deliver the shots to greater China, with availability expected in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Chengdu. China would need to approve expanding access beyond the about 20,000 German nationals, the source said on Wednesday. "Most of Chinese here got the BioNTech vaccine, the vaccine that was first available. SinoVac vaccine was not available in Europe," a first-generation Chinese expatriate who has lived in Europe for more than a decade told Reuters. The expatriate, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their family in China, said that the government there might only make BioNTech shots available to Chinese nationals if it came to the worst-case scenario.

Now, as the virus sweeps through a country of 1.4 billion people who lack natural immunity having been shielded for so long, there is growing concern about possible deaths, virus mutations and the impact, again, on the economy. Beijing reported five COVID-related deaths on Tuesday, following two on Monday which were the first fatalities reported in weeks. Authorities have also been racing to build so-called fever clinics, facilities where medical staff check patients' symptoms and administer medicines. In the past week, major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Wenzhou announced they had added hundreds of fever clinics, according to government WeChat accounts and media reports. A survey by World Economics showed on Monday China's business confidence fell in December to its lowest since January 2013.

☆ China's cities battle first wave of COVID surge as wider spread looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

China is currently in the first of an expected three waves of COVID cases this winter, according to the country's chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou. China reported some 2,097 new symptomatic COVID infections on Dec. 17. In Beijing, the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has already hit services from catering to parcel deliveries. A third wave of cases would run from late February to mid-March as people returned to work after the holiday, Wu said. He said those in the community that are vulnerable should be protected, while recommending booster vaccines for the general public.

☆ As China seeks to live with the virus, COVID-control industries face decline
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Eduardo Baptista | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Workers in protective suits wait for people at a nucleic acid testing site, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Shanghai, China, December 9, 2022. A day later though, the 43-year-old lost her job as one of the city's many hazmat-suited COVID swab testers. The industries had become big business over the course of the pandemic and are huge employers even if precise statistics are hard to come by. It remains to be seen just how painful China's dismantling of its COVID-control infrastructure will be for companies and their staff. ($1 = 6.9605 Chinese yuan)Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Brenda Goh and Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China’s Covid-19 Surge Puts Strain on Medical Workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Liyan Qi | Austin Ramzy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Epidemic control workers in Beijing go to disinfect an epidemic area in a recently reopened neighborhood after China lifted its policies such as locking down areas and cities. The death of a Chinese medical student who had been doing hospital work shook healthcare workers across the country and stirred fears of inundated hospitals as the scrapping of Beijing’s strict Covid-19 restrictions has triggered a surge in infections. The West China School of Medicine in the southwestern city of Chengdu said that the first-year medical student, whom it referred to by his surname, Chen, collapsed on Tuesday after completing his clinical work. It said he died of cardiac arrest a little after 10 p.m. Wednesday.

China's health authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment on infections among medical staff. A few nurses at the fever clinic were tested positive, there aren’t any special protective measures for hospital staff and I believe many of us will soon get infected," Li added. A post on the Weibo social media platform recounted a recent experience at the emergency ward at Beijing Hospital. "Those who have not been to the emergency department of Beijing Hospital don't know what a mess it has become," wrote a Weibo user called Moshang. Beijing Hospital did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

☆ China COVID infection fears fuel medical stock bets
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

China's healthcare index (.CSIHC) gained almost 1% on Monday morning, despite a 0.8% drop in the benchmark CSI300 Index (.CSI300). Hu Qiang, fund manager at Yunchuang Investment, said demand for antigen testing had just taken off. Listed medical firms are also busy fielding investors' queries about how they are preparing for a potential worsening COVID situation. Lepu Medical Technology (300003.SZ), which produces cardiovascular and diagnosis devices, told investors it would adjust production plans to meet market demand for COVID testing. Easy Diagnosis said on an investor relations platform that it was able to ramp up production quickly, as cancellation of nucleic acid testing in many places would boost demand for antigen testing at home.

☆ China's capital swings from anger over zero-COVID to coping with infections
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Pandemic control workers in protective suits sit in a neighbourhood that used to be under lockdown, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue, in Beijing, China December 10, 2022. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many businesses have been forced to close as infected workers quarantine at home while many other people are deciding not to go out because of the higher risk of infection. "We can see that hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of people are infected in several major cities," Zhong said. China's economy may grow 1.6% in the first quarter of 2023 from a year earlier, and 4.9% in the second, according to Capital Economics. Inbound travellers are subjected to five days of quarantine at centralised government facilities and three additional days of self-monitoring at home.

“I haven’t seen sunlight in what seems like a long time,” Li told CNN, a week after the protests broke out. In recent years, Beijing has extended its crackdown on dissent to the foreign platform, detaining and jailing Chinese Twitter users who criticized the government. TwitterLi received thousands of submissions a day – and up to dozens per second at the height of the protests. Journalists, observers and activists monitored his feed closely, and some of his posts were aired on televisions across the world. And then they went to our house at midnight to harass my parents,” Li said.

TOKYO/LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Japan, Britain and Italy are merging their next-generation jet fighter projects in a bridge between Europe and Asia that marks Japan's first major industrial defence collaboration beyond the United States since World War Two. Britain also wants Japan to improve how it provides security clearances to contractors, sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. The two new platforms would compete head-on with each other and the United States in the global fighter market. "There is going to be a Battle Royal in the next 10-15 years in positioning the various players," said UK defence analyst Francis Tusa. The United States, which has pledged to defend all three countries through NATO and a separate security pact with Japan, welcomed the new Europe-Japan agreement.

☆ Hackers linked to Chinese government stole millions in Covid benefits, Secret Service says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Sarah Fitzpatrick | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Kit-Ramgopal-Byline.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +11 min

Hackers linked to the Chinese government stole at least $20 million in U.S. Covid relief benefits, including Small Business Administration loans and unemployment insurance funds in over a dozen states, according to the Secret Service. One senior Justice Department official called it “dangerous” and said it had serious national security implications. ‘The horse is out of the barn’As soon as state governments began disbursing Covid unemployment funds in 2020, cybercriminals began to siphon off a significant percentage. China’s targets include state governments, which can have inadequate cybersecurity defenses. “The state governments don’t allocate a lot of cyber protection money to their state I.T.

☆ China Covid restrictions: Protesters win a partial victory as cities start to loosen controls
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Following protests nationwide, some local Chinese authorities have started to ease Covid restrictions – in what appears to be a shift toward gradual reopening as the country nears entering the fourth year of the pandemic. “I feel like everyone’s hard work is paying off,” said a protester who took part in a demonstration in Beijing. “Policy flip-flop is common.”In some cities, the partial relaxation has caused confusion and chaos on the ground. In Beijing, public venues such as shopping malls and office buildings still require a 48-hour negative Covid test for entry. I don’t celebrate, I just remember those brave friends with gratitude,” a Beijing resident posted on Weibo, in a reference to the protesters.

☆ Beijing, Shenzhen loosen more COVID curbs as China fine-tunes policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Brenda Goh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The southern city of Shenzhen announced it would no longer require people to show a negative COVID test result to use public transport or enter parks, following similar moves by Chengdu and Tianjin. A video showing workers in Beijing removing a testing booth by crane on to a truck went viral on Chinese social media on Friday. CHINA OUTLIERThree years into the pandemic, China has been a global outlier with its zero-tolerance approach towards COVID that has seen it enforce lockdowns and frequent virus testing. China reported 32,827 new local COVID-19 infections for Dec. 2, down from 34,772 a day earlier. As of Friday, China reported 5,233 COVID-related deaths and 331,952 cases with symptoms.

☆ Former NBA star Jeremy Lin fined for comments about Covid quarantine while playing in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Police fanned out across Shanghai, Beijing and other cities to try to prevent additional protests. A representative of Vision China Entertainment, which says on its website it represents Lin, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Jinzhou in the northeast lifted curbs on movement and allowed businesses to reopen. On Thursday, the metropolis of Guangzhou in the south, the biggest hotspot in the latest infection spike, allowed supermarkets and restaurants to reopen. Other major cities including Shijiazhuang in the north and Chengdu in the southwest restarted bus and subway service and allowed businesses to reopen.

☆ China's sophisticated censorship engine is being pushed to 'its max' as it struggles to keep protest videos off the internet, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

China is struggling to censor videos of protests against the country's zero-COVID policy, experts say. The country's censorship apparatus has been overwhelmed by the high volume of protest content. Experts told the Times that the high volume of videos has overwhelmed China's censorship software and teams of human censors. Protesters in Chengdu were seen shouting "Step down, Xi Jinping"and "Opposition to dictatorship," according to videos reviewed by CNN. Some internet users are reportedly evading content censorship by flipping videos on their side, adding filters, and recording videos of videos to confuse the censorship algorithms, reported the Times.

☆ Volkswagen, Honda Halt Production at China Plants Due to Covid-19 Curbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Auto makers in China including Volkswagen AG and Honda Motor Co. have halted production at some plants as authorities persist in using strict measures to control Covid-19 outbreaks. Volkswagen has suspended production at its Chengdu plant in southwestern China as well as two of five production lines at its plant in the northeastern city of Changchun since early last week, as a result of car-parts shortages and local health-protection measures, a spokesman said.

"Things reached a tipping point, we had to come out," Yang, 32, who declined to be identified by her full name given fear of reprisals, told Reuters. Authorities have denied the deaths in the fire were linked to lockdown measures that blocked the victims' escape. "I'm very proud that I can stand up with the best young people in China and speak out for everyone," said Cheng. She and other young protesters are tech savvy, with many communicating over Telegram in amorphous, anonymous and decentralised acts of defiance, with echoes of Hong Kong's leaderless pro-democracy protests in 2019. But it's better than facing the reality day by day and then not being able to do anything, and then you feel sorry for yourself."

☆ Factbox: A chronology of dissent in China in recent decades
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( James Pomfret | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The following is a timeline of some other notable protests, and public dissent against China's ruling Communist Party. 2009 - Xinjiang - In the region's worst ethnic unrest in decades, ethnic Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in the capital Urumqi, after an incident involving Uighur workers in a factory in southern China. China later builds massive "facilities" to turn Xinjiang into what a United Nations panel described as a "massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy". China later imposes a powerful national security law, arresting scores of democrats and shutting down civil society groups and liberal media outlets, including the Apple Daily newspaper. 2022 - Henan bank protests - Public protests simmer as thousands lose access to their savings in a banking fraud scandal centred on rural lenders in Henan and Anhui provinces.

☆ What protests in China may mean for the economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN Business —Protests against China’s prolonged and restrictive Covid regulations spread across the country over the weekend. Oil plunged and hit 2022 lows on Monday, while shares of companies that rely on China for production felt the heat. Oil prices dropped sharply, with investors concerned that surging Covid cases and protests in China may sap demand from one of the world’s largest oil consumers. They don’t want to end their covid policy but they also want to ensure that the political unrest doesn’t grow. This week is chock full of important economic data releases, many of which will help guide the Fed’s next interest rate hike decision in December.

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