China insists on dynamic clearing, Netizens complain: the more you're clearing, the less it's working

In mid-March, Chinese President Xi Jinping said to insist on a scientific and precisive dynamic zero-covid strategy. Right after, government agencies and the media commented "not wavering" and "not relaxing", showing their support for the "#DynamicZeroCOVID" strategy one after another.

The National Health Commission (NHC) of China re-emphasised at a teleconference on Friday (#Apr01) the need to firmly unify thoughts and actions with the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the decisions of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. It is to resolutely curb the spread of the epidemic to ensure that the goal of the "social zero-COVID" strategy can be achieved on time.

Many Chinese netizens asked, "How long would it last? How to achieve it on time?" in response to this target proposed by the NHC. Some other netizens used the recent Shanghai epidemic as an example to mock: "Dynamic zero-covid, the more you're clearing, the less it's working".

Source: Deutsche Welle #Apr02

#ZeroCovid #DynamicClearing #COVID19 #China #NationalHealthCommission #XiJinping

https://bit.ly/36Wxqfw

The Hospital Authority has successfully bought 2 COVID oral medicine from Merck and Pfizer. However, both of them have a certain degree of side effects.

#COVID19 #Medicine #Merck #Pfizer #GoHkgraphic

HK Schools Resumed after "Early Summer Vacation", with Daily Rapid Testing for Students

During the daily #COVID19 press conference on April 11, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced plans for schools to resume beginning on April 19, after nearly 2 months of suspension due to a wave of #Omicron sweeping through the city.

Students will need to take a rapid test every day before attending school; only those with a negative result will be allowed in.

The government also laid out guidelines for closing schools: if 5% of a school's students and staff test positive, the Centre for Health Protection (#CHP) will investigate the outbreak.

Vaccination will not be required for students, but those without it will not be allowed to attend extracurricular activities.

The timeline for resuming in-person classes:

Secondary schools: Starting May 3, schools can resume their classes in stages or entirely. By May 10, all classes must resume.

Primary schools: classes can resume in stages or entirely starting April 19. All classes must resume by May 3.

Kindergartens: One-third of classes are to resume starting May 3, with the remaining to resume on May 10. All classes must resume by May 16.

This will bring an end to the suspension of classes, which was began on Feb 21 when the government announced an "early summer vacation" for all schools.

During the press conference, Carrie Lam expressed her thanks that more schools have proactively taken anti-pandemic measures, including arranging vaccinations and distributing prevention kits, as a result of the government-mandated "summer vacation".

During the questioning period, a NowTV reporter asked whether parents could opt for online classes, instead of sending their children to school.

Secretary of Education Kevin Yeung replied that the policy was a balance between needs and risks, and they found that despite the risk being non-zero, resuming in-person classes was necessary. He further stated that students aged 6-15 are required by law to attend school.

#Apr11 #WuhanPneumonia #OmicronWave #ClassSuspension

source: In-Media HK
https://bit.ly/3Jrc6vN

$90 Million HKD Collected in Anti-Pandemic Fines, Govt Data Shows

#SocialDistancing #COVID19 #PoliceState

Source: Inmediahk

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$90 Million HKD Collected in Anti-Pandemic Fines, Govt Data Shows

In response to the outbreak of #WuhanPneumonia in early 2020, the government enacted a series of social distancing measures, including a #GatheringBan, #MaskMandate, and mandatory use of the "#LeaveHomeSafe" contact tracing app. These regulations are part of the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance, also known as Cap. 599.

From April 1, 2021 to Feb 28, 2022, police had issued 21,613 tickets against more than 1,100 individuals for Cap. 599 violations, collecting $89,980,000HKD in fines for the government.

The number of tickets issued, by regulation, are:

Gathering ban (599G): 13,525 tickets
Mask mandate (599I): 6102 tickets
Business and premises regulation (599F): 1986 tickets

Since the 5th wave of outbreak earlier this year, the number tickets for violating the mask mandate more than doubled, rising from January's 550 to February's 1909.

Source: In-Media HK
https://bit.ly/37enUnZ

Related news: a few instances when 599G and 599I tickets were issued:

Hong Kong Police Ticket 14 Pro-democracy Elderly for violating gathering ban, each fined for HK$5,000
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/27235

Hong Kong Police Accuse Civilians Queueing Up to Enter Courtroom of Breaching the Gathering Ban
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/28952

Carrie Lam Defends Top Officials for Violating Gathering Ban in Extravagant Banquet with Property Developer: "You can't just turn away after seeing abalone"
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30485

#SocialDistancing #COVID19 #PoliceState

#CCPcontrol #Censorship #Silencing
Furious Chinese Netizens over City Lockdown posts National Anthem "Rise Up" to Protest, and are Promptly Blocked on Weibo

With the widespread of #Omicron in Shanghai, the Chinese government is responding with a tougher stain on the lockdown of the city, leading to public discontent and resistance.

Many Chinese netizens used the first line of the national anthem, "Rise up! Those refuse to be slaves", as a hashtag and posted it on #Weibo to express their anger. This was blocked by Weibo later on, which is ridiculously tantamount to making the national anthem a forbidden word.

It was found later, after searching on Weibo, that the national anthem is still searchable, but the search results would be blanked if the keyword is a hashtag of the national anthem.

This is not the first time China has banned its national anthem. Back in the early days of the #COVID19 outbreak in #Wuhan, when 'whistle blower' Dr. Li Wenliang died, Douban.com banned the lyrics of the same song for "containing radical current affairs or ideology".

Source: Whats News Media; #Apr21
https://www.whatsnewsmedia.com/8796/16/08/45/

---
Related article
National Flag Guard – Doctor LI Wenliang was died due to the systematic speech controls, which he believed in and supported
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/16978?single
.

#ShanghaiLockdown
Shanghai Violinist Leaped to his Death after COVID Restrictions Denied him Medical Assistance

71-year-old amateur violinist Chen Shunping, who lived in #Shanghai, had taken his own life after being denied medical help for his suspected pancreatitis during the city's month-long lockdown. He was a member of the Shanghai Pops Orchestra.

Three #COVID19 deaths had been recorded [Ed: as of April 18] since Shanghai's lockdown began in late March, all of whom were seniors with chronic illnesses.

However, reports often surfaced on Chinese social media surrounding deaths of patients not being able to get medical treatment.

According to chat messages from Chen's family, he began to feel unwell in the evening of April 13, with stomach pains and vomiting; from experience, he suspected it was pancreatitis.

His family called an ambulance, who took Chen to two separate hospitals, but both turned him away, citing COVID restrictions. Unable to endure the severe pain, Chen left suicide notes for his family before leaping to his death from his apartment.

Chen's wife was stricken with grief as she remembered him as a cheerful and kind man, with a passion for life and music: "This society had taken an ordinary, lively man and pushed him to his death!"

His death also sparked outcry online; netizens commented that he "didn't get COVID, but died because of COVID."

A separate incident of a pregnant Shanghai woman who died from blood loss during a premature birth also circulated on social media. Shanghai police quickly refuted it as "fake news", announcing that the woman successfully gave birth to twins, and that they had arrested the spreader of the rumor.

Netizens were quick to react: "Why don't you refute Chen Shunping's fake news?" "Chen's case still hasn't been refuted, so it must be true."

Source: In-Media HK
https://bit.ly/3OeDLUx

#HumanitarianCrisis #WuhanPneumonia #ChenShunPing

Is China Juicing GDP Data? Economists Can’t Help But Wonder

It’s both the most tantalizing and persistent question in global economics: Is China cooking the gross domestic product books?

Admittedly, it’s been asked myriad times over the last decade. Often, it’s when growth rates among China’s 23 provinces deviate from the national figure the Communist Party includes in quarterly press releases.

Even by these standards, though, China’s reported GDP acceleration to 4.8% in the first quarter from 4% the previous one inspired a bull market in head-scratching. It made no sense amid cascading property markets and the return of large-scale Covid-19 lockdowns.

Source: Forbes #Apr29

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williampesek/2022/04/29/is-china-juicing-gdp-data-economists-cant-help-but-wonder/?sh=329cf5b239c7

#China #GDP #COVID19

‘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

An investigation compares the number of fixed penalty ticket issued and local COVID cases over the past 2 years. There is no correlation between them.

#GroupGathering #COVID19 #GoHKgraphics

#Pandemic #Covid19
Key Indicator Shows #China’s #Economy Set For Further Slump

Source: Forbes #Jun27

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#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

#China uses #coronavirus warning app to stifle #dissent

//China's #COVID19 warning app enables health authorities to move quickly against a virus outbreak. But it seems officials also use the app to stop perfectly healthy people from doing what Beijing doesn't want them to do. And the target is dissidents.//

Watch the video:
https://www.dw.com/en/china-uses-coronavirus-warning-app-to-stifle-dissent/av-62501253

Source: DW #Jul17

#HealthCode #MassSurveillance #Beijing #Authoritarianism

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

#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

China Must Stick With Covid Zero Policy, People’s Daily Says

The Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper endorsed the country’s Covid Zero policy for the second day in a row, dousing hopes that President Xi Jinping will relax controls soon after a key political meeting starting later this week.

Covid Zero is “sustainable” and the country must stick to the strategy because it’s key to stabilizing the economy and protecting lives, the People’s Daily said in a commentary Tuesday. It follows a similar article Monday labeling the stringent pandemic approach as “scientific and effective.” State news agency Xinhua also published a column that said the country can’t be complacent on the virus.

Source: Bloomberg #Oct11

#China #Covid19 #Policy

https://t.co/DTaPZEe1LH

Zero-Covid: How Xi's flagship policy is spoiling his party

The idea was to have China in stable and tip-top shape when thousands of delegates gather in Beijing to usher in a historic third term in power for Xi Jinping.

However, the coronavirus is not playing nicely.

In recent weeks, tens of millions of people have again been confined to their homes in lockdowns across 60 towns and cities and this is bringing political pressure on the man who has become the most powerful Chinese figure since the first Communist-era leader Mao Zedong.

The government's ongoing "Dynamic zero-Covid" strategy is inextricably linked to Mr Xi. Its success is his success. Its failure? Well, it would be a brave person who tried to pin it on him.

Source: BBC News #Oct07

#China #Covid19 #ZeroCovid #XiJinping

https://t.co/xhgjq0TUKX

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

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

China is set to open reopen its borders on January 8 after scrapping its draconian zero-COVID strategy as large-scale outbreaks sweep through its population.

WHO criticized the nation of 1.4 billion for under-representing the severity of its outbreak, calling China's data "incomplete".

Many countries have since imposed restrictions on travellers from China, a response the WHO has called "understandable". The list of countries continues to be growing.

source:

Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/2/which-countries-have-placed-covid-curbs-on-travellers-from-china

Time
https://time.com/6243967/covid-travel-restrictions-china/

#ChinaReopening #WuhanPneumonia #COVID19 #TravelRestriction