#Shanghai starts China's biggest #COVID19 lockdown in 2 years; residents call it "insane"
Although Chinese officials said lockdown would not be imposed on #Shanghai, two days later the authorities announced that the city will be locked down in two stages from Monday, March 28, 2022 onwards for nine days.
According to BBC, this is the biggest city-wide #lockdown since the Covid outbreak began more than two years ago.
Soon after the government's announcement was out, panic buying occured in various parts of Shanghai.
Videos on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, showed people fighting in supermarket over produce. Some Chinese netizens commented that it was "unbelievable that they are looking at 21st-Century Shanghai" and that the policy was "insane".
Source: InMedia; BBC #Mar28
https://bit.ly/380pPwx
#WuhanPneumonia #ChineseStyle #Lockdown #Pandemic #Regime
Although Chinese officials said lockdown would not be imposed on #Shanghai, two days later the authorities announced that the city will be locked down in two stages from Monday, March 28, 2022 onwards for nine days.
According to BBC, this is the biggest city-wide #lockdown since the Covid outbreak began more than two years ago.
Soon after the government's announcement was out, panic buying occured in various parts of Shanghai.
Videos on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, showed people fighting in supermarket over produce. Some Chinese netizens commented that it was "unbelievable that they are looking at 21st-Century Shanghai" and that the policy was "insane".
Source: InMedia; BBC #Mar28
https://bit.ly/380pPwx
#WuhanPneumonia #ChineseStyle #Lockdown #Pandemic #Regime
#CarrieLam claims "no man-made error" in #Omicron outbreak, resulting in over 7,000 deaths in Hong Kong
The #COVID19 death toll surpasses 7,000 in Hong Kong during the 5th wave of the outbreak. The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, refused to carry out a comprehensive review, saying that she and her administration should not be distracted to deal with a large-scale investigation.
During the COVID-19 briefing on March 27, 2022, Lam was asked who would be held accountable for the loss of lives and whether she would admit there were mistakes in her Covid approach and apologize to affected families.
Without addressing the questions directly, Lam denied that these were man-made mistakes. Lam insisted, “In a public health crisis, it is impossible to completely avoid these sorts of factors”.
Source: Inmediahk; #Mar27
https://bit.ly/3iGma9q
#PublicHealth #OmicronVariant #Pandemic #Death #FailedState
The #COVID19 death toll surpasses 7,000 in Hong Kong during the 5th wave of the outbreak. The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, refused to carry out a comprehensive review, saying that she and her administration should not be distracted to deal with a large-scale investigation.
During the COVID-19 briefing on March 27, 2022, Lam was asked who would be held accountable for the loss of lives and whether she would admit there were mistakes in her Covid approach and apologize to affected families.
Without addressing the questions directly, Lam denied that these were man-made mistakes. Lam insisted, “In a public health crisis, it is impossible to completely avoid these sorts of factors”.
Source: Inmediahk; #Mar27
https://bit.ly/3iGma9q
#PublicHealth #OmicronVariant #Pandemic #Death #FailedState
‘I’m Very Anxious’: China’s #Lockdowns Leave Millions Out of Work
//Migrant workers and recent college graduates have been hit hardest by shuttered factories, closed construction sites and an anemic job market.
As China battles its worst coronavirus outbreaks, its uncompromising determination to eliminate infections has left millions unable to work. Stringent lockdowns, hitting city after city, have forced factories and businesses to shut, sometimes for weeks, including in some of the country’s most important economic centers.
Two groups have been especially hard-hit: migrant workers — the roughly 280 million laborers who travel from rural areas to cities to work in sectors such as manufacturing and construction — and recent college graduates. Nearly 11 million college students, a record, are expected to graduate this year...
Yang Jiwei, a 21-year-old from Anhui Province, worked as a waiter in Shanghai when the lockdown began. His residence, shared with four other people, had no kitchen supplies, so they could not cook the few packages of vegetables and meat that local officials had provided. He had been eating a dwindling supply of instant noodles...
But the official unemployment figures are widely considered an undercount. They do not capture many migrant workers, and they also count people as unemployed only if they are able to start working within two weeks. That would exclude people under extended lockdowns or the growing numbers of young people deferring job searches...//
Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/business/china-shanghai-covid-lockdown-economy.html
Source: New York Times #May5
#Unemployment #Discontent #Pandemic #ShanghaiLockdown #Covid19
//Migrant workers and recent college graduates have been hit hardest by shuttered factories, closed construction sites and an anemic job market.
As China battles its worst coronavirus outbreaks, its uncompromising determination to eliminate infections has left millions unable to work. Stringent lockdowns, hitting city after city, have forced factories and businesses to shut, sometimes for weeks, including in some of the country’s most important economic centers.
Two groups have been especially hard-hit: migrant workers — the roughly 280 million laborers who travel from rural areas to cities to work in sectors such as manufacturing and construction — and recent college graduates. Nearly 11 million college students, a record, are expected to graduate this year...
Yang Jiwei, a 21-year-old from Anhui Province, worked as a waiter in Shanghai when the lockdown began. His residence, shared with four other people, had no kitchen supplies, so they could not cook the few packages of vegetables and meat that local officials had provided. He had been eating a dwindling supply of instant noodles...
But the official unemployment figures are widely considered an undercount. They do not capture many migrant workers, and they also count people as unemployed only if they are able to start working within two weeks. That would exclude people under extended lockdowns or the growing numbers of young people deferring job searches...//
Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/business/china-shanghai-covid-lockdown-economy.html
Source: New York Times #May5
#Unemployment #Discontent #Pandemic #ShanghaiLockdown #Covid19
NY Times
‘I’m Very Anxious’: China’s Lockdowns Leave Millions Out of Work
Migrant workers and recent college graduates have been hit hardest by shuttered factories, closed construction sites and an anemic job market.
Chinese Authorities Detain Civilian in Mental Hospital for Expressing Opinions over Lockdown Policy
In Nanking, China, a young woman called Ding Yin was sent to a mental hospital after expressing her concerns over the lockdown of Shanghai.
Ding wrote a letter to #XiJinPing, reminding the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (#CCP) of the problems of power abuse and the difficulties faced by the population.
Ding was hospitalised sincr then without any date of release.
Source: Radio Free Asia #Jun10
https://bit.ly/39j6h7x
#Censorship #Regime #ShanghaiLockdown #Pandemic #MentalHospital
In Nanking, China, a young woman called Ding Yin was sent to a mental hospital after expressing her concerns over the lockdown of Shanghai.
Ding wrote a letter to #XiJinPing, reminding the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (#CCP) of the problems of power abuse and the difficulties faced by the population.
Ding was hospitalised sincr then without any date of release.
Source: Radio Free Asia #Jun10
https://bit.ly/39j6h7x
#Censorship #Regime #ShanghaiLockdown #Pandemic #MentalHospital
#Pandemic #Covid19
Key Indicator Shows #China’s #Economy Set For Further Slump
//Just when you thought China might be back on track, a key economic indicators suggests the opposite is coming down the pike.
Recently the price of iron-ore slumped, indicating that demand for this key ingredient in steel making is slipping as well. Recently one metric ton of the or would fetch $116, down more than 25% from almost $160 in early March, according to data from TradingEconomics. That’s quite a tumble.
That matters because steel has long been the lifeblood of that country’s economy....
What’s shocking here is that while China is in midst of undoing some of its recent COVID-19-related lockdowns that brought vast swathes of the communist country to an economic standstill. If those locked-down cities were now getting back to work, then why aren’t we seeing signs of an industrial resurgence?
So far, that’s not clear. If things were getting back to any form of normal then we should see demand for iron-ore creep up and along with it the prices of the mineral should rally.
Investors in Chinese stocks or even those listed in Hong Kong should remain cautious until we see evidence of a real recovery.//
Source: Forbes #Jun27
https://t.co/XrJ4mhyoD1
#Iron #IronOre #Lockdown #FinancialDownturn
Key Indicator Shows #China’s #Economy Set For Further Slump
//Just when you thought China might be back on track, a key economic indicators suggests the opposite is coming down the pike.
Recently the price of iron-ore slumped, indicating that demand for this key ingredient in steel making is slipping as well. Recently one metric ton of the or would fetch $116, down more than 25% from almost $160 in early March, according to data from TradingEconomics. That’s quite a tumble.
That matters because steel has long been the lifeblood of that country’s economy....
What’s shocking here is that while China is in midst of undoing some of its recent COVID-19-related lockdowns that brought vast swathes of the communist country to an economic standstill. If those locked-down cities were now getting back to work, then why aren’t we seeing signs of an industrial resurgence?
So far, that’s not clear. If things were getting back to any form of normal then we should see demand for iron-ore creep up and along with it the prices of the mineral should rally.
Investors in Chinese stocks or even those listed in Hong Kong should remain cautious until we see evidence of a real recovery.//
Source: Forbes #Jun27
https://t.co/XrJ4mhyoD1
#Iron #IronOre #Lockdown #FinancialDownturn
Forbes
Key Indicator Shows China’s Economy Set For Further Slump
Just when you thought China might be back on track, a key economic indicators suggests the opposite is coming down the pike.
Studies point to China's #HuananMarket as #epicenter of #Covid19, wildlife trade associated
The following is excerpted from a statement released by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (#AAAS), which is the publisher of the peer-reviewed journal "Science", on July 26, 2022:
//Two studies published in #Science by #MichaelWorobey et al. and #JonathanPekar et al. use complementary approaches – involving spatial and environmental analyses, as well as molecular analyses – to provide evidence that the Huanan market in #Wuhan, China, was the early epicenter for the COVID-19 #pandemic.
The scientists concluded that SARS-CoV-2 was very likely present in live mammals sold at this market in late 2019 and suggest the virus spilled over into people working or shopping there ... //
Read more:
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/959879
Source: AAAS; Canada TV #Jul27
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/studies-suggest-covid-19-likely-emerged-from-wuhan-market-1.6003139
#WuhanPneumonia
The following is excerpted from a statement released by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (#AAAS), which is the publisher of the peer-reviewed journal "Science", on July 26, 2022:
//Two studies published in #Science by #MichaelWorobey et al. and #JonathanPekar et al. use complementary approaches – involving spatial and environmental analyses, as well as molecular analyses – to provide evidence that the Huanan market in #Wuhan, China, was the early epicenter for the COVID-19 #pandemic.
The scientists concluded that SARS-CoV-2 was very likely present in live mammals sold at this market in late 2019 and suggest the virus spilled over into people working or shopping there ... //
Read more:
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/959879
Source: AAAS; Canada TV #Jul27
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/studies-suggest-covid-19-likely-emerged-from-wuhan-market-1.6003139
#WuhanPneumonia
#IMF cuts global growth outlook amid US, #China slowdowns
//Surging inflation and severe slowdowns in the United States and China prompted the IMF Tuesday [July 26, 2022] to downgrade its outlook for the global economy this year and next, while warning that the situation could get much worse...
"The outlook has darkened significantly since April," said IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas. "The world may soon be teetering on the edge of a global recession, only two years after the last one."
"The world's three largest economies, the United States, China and the euro area are stalling with important consequences for the global outlook," he said at a briefing.
...China's economy is expected to slow dramatically in 2022, expanding just 3.3 percent -- the lowest in more than four decades other than the 2020 pandemic crisis -- due to Covid concerns and the "worsening crisis" in the property sector, the report said.
"The slowdown in China has global consequences: lockdowns added to global supply chain disruptions and the decline in domestic spending are reducing demand for goods and services from China's trade partners," the report said.//
Read more:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220726-imf-cuts-global-growth-outlook-amid-us-china-slowdowns
Source: France 24 #Jul26
#Economy #Pandemic #Covid19
//Surging inflation and severe slowdowns in the United States and China prompted the IMF Tuesday [July 26, 2022] to downgrade its outlook for the global economy this year and next, while warning that the situation could get much worse...
"The outlook has darkened significantly since April," said IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas. "The world may soon be teetering on the edge of a global recession, only two years after the last one."
"The world's three largest economies, the United States, China and the euro area are stalling with important consequences for the global outlook," he said at a briefing.
...China's economy is expected to slow dramatically in 2022, expanding just 3.3 percent -- the lowest in more than four decades other than the 2020 pandemic crisis -- due to Covid concerns and the "worsening crisis" in the property sector, the report said.
"The slowdown in China has global consequences: lockdowns added to global supply chain disruptions and the decline in domestic spending are reducing demand for goods and services from China's trade partners," the report said.//
Read more:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220726-imf-cuts-global-growth-outlook-amid-us-china-slowdowns
Source: France 24 #Jul26
#Economy #Pandemic #Covid19
France 24
IMF cuts global growth outlook amid US, China slowdowns
Surging inflation and severe slowdowns in the United States and China prompted the IMF Tuesday to downgrade its outlook for the global economy this year and next, while warning that the situation could…
#Report: Security concerns over compulsory app launched by Hong Kong government
This is part of a report published by #TechOpenFund on July 27, 2022. The investigation was conducted by #7ASecurity and #OTFRedTeamLab in 2022:
//...This exercise involved both a privacy audit and a security audit of the #LeaveHomeSafe #Android and #iOS apps.
The privacy audit could not conclusively prove malicious intent or unauthorized tracking of Hong Kong citizens. However, the security audit demonstrated that these applications have not been professionally audited by any competent security firm before, and that significant flaws exist in the current software security development lifecycle.
This is particularly concerning given that the app was originally introduced more than a year and a half ago, was made mandatory in some fashion for 9 months and recently began requesting real name registration and tracking user’s movements.
While no clear privacy violation could be conclusively proven during the audit at runtime, a number of application artifacts, likely inherited from underlying dependencies or simply security vulnerabilities introduced by mistake, were found during this exercise.//
Read the full article:
https://www.opentech.fund/news/7asecurity-otf-red-team-lab-partner-completes-blackbox-pentest-and-privacy-audit-of-leavehomesafe-app/
Source: Open Tech Fund #Jul27
#MassSurveillance #Track #Privacy #App #PoliceState #Pandemic
This is part of a report published by #TechOpenFund on July 27, 2022. The investigation was conducted by #7ASecurity and #OTFRedTeamLab in 2022:
//...This exercise involved both a privacy audit and a security audit of the #LeaveHomeSafe #Android and #iOS apps.
The privacy audit could not conclusively prove malicious intent or unauthorized tracking of Hong Kong citizens. However, the security audit demonstrated that these applications have not been professionally audited by any competent security firm before, and that significant flaws exist in the current software security development lifecycle.
This is particularly concerning given that the app was originally introduced more than a year and a half ago, was made mandatory in some fashion for 9 months and recently began requesting real name registration and tracking user’s movements.
While no clear privacy violation could be conclusively proven during the audit at runtime, a number of application artifacts, likely inherited from underlying dependencies or simply security vulnerabilities introduced by mistake, were found during this exercise.//
Read the full article:
https://www.opentech.fund/news/7asecurity-otf-red-team-lab-partner-completes-blackbox-pentest-and-privacy-audit-of-leavehomesafe-app/
Source: Open Tech Fund #Jul27
#MassSurveillance #Track #Privacy #App #PoliceState #Pandemic
UK Media: China had been stocking PPEs months before the pandemic outbreak
Three years since the COVID-19 pandemic has started, US former officials revealed that China had been stocking personal protective equipment a few months before announcing the pandemic, including limiting exports of these products and purchasing them from the West. This showed that the CCP tried to hide the truth about the pandemic, confirming the theory of a Wuhan laboratory creating the coroanvirus.
The Daily Telegraph reported on 8 Oct that China had been stocking PPEs a few months before announcing the COVID-19 pandemic, including limiting the exports of gowns and masks. At the same time, China purchased these PPEs from Europe, US and Australia. These foundings raised suspcision on the source of the coronavirus and the time of the outbreak.
Source: RFA #Oct10
#China #COVID19 #PPE #Pandemic
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/covid-10102022113254.html
Three years since the COVID-19 pandemic has started, US former officials revealed that China had been stocking personal protective equipment a few months before announcing the pandemic, including limiting exports of these products and purchasing them from the West. This showed that the CCP tried to hide the truth about the pandemic, confirming the theory of a Wuhan laboratory creating the coroanvirus.
The Daily Telegraph reported on 8 Oct that China had been stocking PPEs a few months before announcing the COVID-19 pandemic, including limiting the exports of gowns and masks. At the same time, China purchased these PPEs from Europe, US and Australia. These foundings raised suspcision on the source of the coronavirus and the time of the outbreak.
Source: RFA #Oct10
#China #COVID19 #PPE #Pandemic
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/covid-10102022113254.html
Italian Health Secretary: China Teaches the World What Not to Do in a Pandemic
Italian Health Minister Orazio Schillaci sharply criticised China's anti-pandemic measures in a presentation at the Italian Parliament on Thursday.
He said that China has taught a lesson to the world on what not to do when fighting against the virus. He calls on all countries to never use China-style measures to fight a virus.
Schillaci also indicates that no new variant was found from the import cases from China as of 30/12. However, Italy has to be aware of the risks posed by China's pandemic, but there is no need to panic.
The health minister also commented on the anti-pandemic policy of China, calling it an exercise in self-contradiction. He added that the recent situation in some Chinese mega-cities would be unacceptable in democratic countries.
#Italy #China #OrazioSchillaci #COVID19 #Pandemic #Lockdown #Democracy
Source: Europe Chinese #Dec30
http://europechinese.blogspot.com/2022/12/blog-post_99.html
Italian Health Minister Orazio Schillaci sharply criticised China's anti-pandemic measures in a presentation at the Italian Parliament on Thursday.
He said that China has taught a lesson to the world on what not to do when fighting against the virus. He calls on all countries to never use China-style measures to fight a virus.
Schillaci also indicates that no new variant was found from the import cases from China as of 30/12. However, Italy has to be aware of the risks posed by China's pandemic, but there is no need to panic.
The health minister also commented on the anti-pandemic policy of China, calling it an exercise in self-contradiction. He added that the recent situation in some Chinese mega-cities would be unacceptable in democratic countries.
#Italy #China #OrazioSchillaci #COVID19 #Pandemic #Lockdown #Democracy
Source: Europe Chinese #Dec30
http://europechinese.blogspot.com/2022/12/blog-post_99.html
Blogspot
意衛生部長：中國教曉世界抗疫不要做什麼
意大利衛生部長 Orazio Schillaci 【文首截圖中；來自安莎通訊社】週四向國會匯報中國疫情爆發對意大利的風險時，猛烈抨擊中國的防疫手法，表示中國給全世界上了一課，展示出對抗疫症時不要做什麼，呼籲所有國家以後永遠都不要再用中國模式抗疫。