Covid-19 in China

[Randy W]

China: Per the CDC, U.S. Citizens, U.S. Nationals, Lawful Permanent Residents & their spouses & children leaving Shanghai, China, may travel to the U.S. without a pre-departure COVID-19 test or documentation of recovery through May 11, 2022. More: http://ow.ly/q3mY50IKEVB

HEALTH ALERT SHANGHAI: TEMPORARY WAIVER OF PRE-FLIGHT COVID TEST REQUIREMENT OR RECOVERY DOCUMENT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that, based on a request from the U.S. Department of State, it is exercising its enforcement discretion regarding its “Amended Order: Requirement for Proof of Negative COVID-19 Test Result or Recovery from COVID-19 for All Airline Passengers Arriving into the United States ,” effective immediately. CDC has determined that the current exigent circumstances in Shanghai, China may preclude individuals from meeting the requirements of CDC’s amended Testing Order.  This exercise of enforcement discretion is limited to the following individuals departing Shanghai, China: U.S. Citizens; U.S. Nationals, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR); noncitizens in possession of a valid U.S. immigrant visa; and noncitizen nonimmigrants who are traveling with a U.S. citizen or LPR and possess valid travel documents allowing them to travel to the United States.

 

[Randy W]

Shanghai told businesses they should start to plan for an emergence from a citywide lockdown that would involve workers living on site and testing regularly for the coronavirus.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/10152912508399999

 

Shanghai says some people may have to sleep at work even after its lockdown ends.

 

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Many people in the city have already been living at their workplaces for several weeks.

At New York University’s Shanghai campus, dozens of employees are sleeping in offices and dorms as the city enters a third week of lockdown. At factories in Shanghai, workers are sleeping on makeshift beds. And at financial firms, some traders have set up tents and cots beside their desks.

Around 50 cleaners, engineers, security guards, student life staff and a driver at N.Y.U.’s Shanghai campus agreed to live on site when the district where it’s based announced an initial four-day lockdown on March 28. Three weeks later, as the city continues to try to stamp out a stubborn coronavirus outbreak, they are stranded on campus and helping to keep the university operating for the 600 students who live in campus dorms.

The employees will have to continue to live and work on campus until the lockdown in the district, Pudong, lifted. The school cannot swap new workers in and those already there are not allowed to leave.

“This is a tough time for everybody, and it’s especially challenging for our essential workers who can’t go home at night,” said Jeffrey Lehman, N.Y.U. Shanghai’s vice chancellor.

“I feel deeply grateful to them for all that they are doing to take care of our students and our school.”

 

 

[Randy W]

Unable to Leave Shanghai, Truckers Take Refuge in Their Trucks

As Shanghai enters its third week of lockdown, the truck drivers and their vehicles have become immobile — just like the city itself. Sixth Tone’s sister publication, The Paper, spoke with two truck drivers about their journey so far.

Read more: http://ow.ly/ArCf50ILBto

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/videos/977077346279288/

[Randy W]

A Covid surge in Shanghai has overwhelmed the city’s officials, leaving residents struggling to obtain food and medical attention. Angry and frustrated, neighbors are turning to each other for support, testing the Party’s legitimacy in a time of crisis.

from the  NY Times on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/10152917825444999

‘I Just Want to Help’: Amid Chaos, Shanghai Residents Band Together
As the authorities in China’s biggest city fight to stamp out an Omicron outbreak, neighbors are turning to one another for support.

Green fences sealing entrances to shops and residences on Sunday in Shanghai, where many neighborhoods have been locked down to fight an outbreak of Covid-19.Credit...Jacqueline Wong/Reuters

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In its relentless effort to stamp out the virus, China has relied on hundreds of thousands of low-level party officials in neighborhood committees to arrange mass testing and coordinate transport to hospitals and isolation facilities. The officials have doled out special passes for the sick to seek medicine and other necessities during lockdown.

But the recent surge in Shanghai has overwhelmed the city’s 50,000 neighborhood officials, leaving residents struggling to obtain food, medical attention and even pet care. Angry and frustrated, some have taken matters into their own hands, volunteering to help those in need when China’s Communist Party has been unable or unwilling, testing the Party’s legitimacy in a time of crisis.

 

 

[Randy W]

Faced with a growing number of coronavirus infections across Beijing, city officials are trying to test most of the city's 22 million residents in the hope of avoiding the pain of imposing a citywide lockdown like in Shanghai.

from the NY Times on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/10152917901099999

Beijing Starts Testing 20 Million to Try to Avoid a Lockdown Like Shanghai’s
China’s capital reported 22 cases as it kicked off an ambitious mandatory testing campaign across the city and reassured residents that food and other supplies were plentiful.

Workers in hazmat suits in Chaoyang District, Beijing, on Wednesday.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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Beijing is ordering mass testing across the city more quickly than in Shanghai, where officials started testing on a similar scale only after infections had been recorded for weeks and more than 1,000 cases had emerged.

“It’s cheaper to act earlier than to act later,” said Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist who is the chief of the Covid-19 task force at the World Health Network, a volunteer group of scientists and doctors.

The idea is to move faster with testing to understand how widely the outbreak has spread before seeking to impose restrictions on movement. Officials have acknowledged that the highly contagious, stealthy Omicron variant had breached Beijing’s defenses and probably has gone undetected in the city for a week, particularly in the populous district of Chaoyang.

“Recently, there have been several outbreaks in Chaoyang District, showing the characteristics of hidden transmission, strong contagion and rapid spread,” Yang Beibei, deputy head of the district government, said at a news conference on Monday.

 

 

[Randy W]

'Voices of April': China's internet erupts in protest against censorship of Shanghai lockdown video

from CNN

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The shouts of locked-down residents demanding basic necessities, the cries of babies separated from their parents in quarantine, the pleas of a son repeatedly rejected by hospitals to treat his critically ill father, and the sobs of an exhausted local official who admits there is "no good policy" coming from higher authorities for her to explain to residents.

These voices, charged with raw frustration, agony and desperation, are among the montage of audio recordings featured in "Voices of April," a video documenting the harsh impact of Shanghai's nearly month-long lockdown.

 . . .

"A month into the outbreak in Shanghai, I saw many people speaking out online, but most of them disappeared after a short while," the maker of the video posted on WeChat Friday. "However, some things should not have happened, and they should not be forgotten."
The personal plights, told in residents' own voices and overlay with black-and-white aerial footage of the city's silent skyline and empty streets, touched the hearts of millions of Chinese internet users as the video spread like wildfire across social media platforms on Friday evening.
But for the Chinese government, the six-minute clip -- and the chaos and suffering it exposes -- is too powerful a reminder of the human cost of its zero-Covid policy, which authorities insist are "putting the people and their lives first."
Censors quickly stepped in, taking down the film as well as any references to it from China's internet. On microblogging site Weibo, even the word "April" was temporarily restricted from search results.

 

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Some residents in the city of 216,000 people bordering Vietnam said they found themselves in limbo and were considering shutting their businesses amid uncertainty over future lockdowns.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3214555942196577

A Small Border City Grapples With Post-Lockdown Survival
Some business owners in Dongxing are considering shutting shops and even relocating.

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Their stories offer a glimpse into how local businesses in small cities, especially those sharing borders with other countries, are grappling with gloomy future prospects. The frequent virus flare-ups, which authorities have often blamed on imported cases, followed by the abrupt lockdowns have dealt a blow to their economies, which are largely dependent upon tourism and cross-border trade.

Ruili in the southwestern Yunnan province bordering Myanmar has gone through nine rounds of lockdowns totaling 160 days since 2020, according to domestic reports. The city has gradually resumed work, production, and businesses since mid-April, but residents have complained that persistent lockdown-like situations are disrupting daily life and livelihoods.

In Dongxing, authorities have imposed two lockdowns since the pandemic. The first shutdown in December 2021 lasted for about half a month, while the latest two-month lockdown went into effect on Feb. 25.

Official data shows Dongxing’s annual import and export volume has been shrinking since 2020, with the 2021 figure down by 40% compared with 2019. Meanwhile, revenues from domestic tourism dropped by 29% year-on-year in 2020, compared with a 37% growth rate in 2019.

And business owners like Liu Gang are feeling the brunt. The 53-year-old has been running a local specialty store in Dongxing for 12 years but is now ready to pack his bags and head to his hometown in the northeast when his store lease expires this year.

Liu said nearly a half of more than 1,000 small business owners like him had closed their stores in the past two years, as domestic tourists fell by 80% compared to pre-pandemic levels. Most of them have shops at wholesale markets at a Dongxing port near the border often frequented by tourists.

 

 

[Randy W]

Lockdowns in China turn millions into virtual prisoners 

China's zero-Covid policy has officials using increasingly extreme measures to stop the virus from spreading. CNN's David Culver reports from Shanghai, where he remains under strict lockdown in his own home.

 

Source: CNN video

[Randy W]

Photographer Gao Zheng was one of the lucky few allowed to leave lockdown in mid-April. He felt like the last person in Shanghai.

Read more: http://ow.ly/oN5b50IXAT1

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3217420628576775

[Randy W]

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, residents in Beijing's Chaoyang district and people in other areas affected by public transportation adjustments should work from home starting on Thursday, the first workday after the May Day holiday. The announcement was made by a senior official on Wednesday.
"Those who have to go to workplaces should go by private car and only travel between home and work," said Xu Hejian, spokesperson of the municipal government at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.

from China Pictorial on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/ChinaPic/posts/408802231248410

[Randy W]

Xi Jinping sends warning to anyone who questions China's zero-Covid policy

from CNN 

 

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At a meeting chaired by Xi on Thursday, the ruling Communist Party's supreme Politburo Standing Committee vowed to "unswervingly adhere to the general policy of 'dynamic zero-Covid,' and resolutely fight against any words and acts that distort, doubt or deny our country's epidemic prevention policies."
This is the first time Xi, who according to state media made an "important speech" at the meeting, has made public remarks about China's battle against Covid since public furor erupted over the harsh lockdown in Shanghai.
"Our prevention and control strategy is determined by the party's nature and mission, our policies can stand the test of history, our measures are scientific and effective," the seven-member committee said, according to government news agency Xinhua.
"We have won the battle to defend Wuhan, and we will certainly be able to win the battle to defend Shanghai," it said.

The Standing Committee also demanded cadres have a "profound, complete and comprehensive understanding" of the policies set by the party's central leadership.
"We should resolutely overcome the problems of inadequate awareness, inadequate preparation and insufficient work, and resolutely overcome contempt, indifference and self-righteousness in our thinking," it said.

 

 

[Randy W]

Eventually, China’s Borders Will Reopen. Will Foreigners Return?
The pandemic interrupted immigration reforms and drove away many expat workers.

A foreign volunteer informs neighbors to go downstairs for COVID-19 tests in Shanghai, March 20, 2022. CCTV+/VCG

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While reforms aimed at attracting more foreigners are on hold due to COVID-19, actual policy changes have sent many home.

Previously, many foreigners managed to work in China illegally on short-term business or tourist visas. They often worked as freelancers, small business owners, or English teachers — in 2017, the government estimated only a third of the country’s 400,000 foreign teachers had the right papers.

China had been cracking down on this group of people since before the pandemic, and the tightening of border controls, which includes not issuing or extending most short-term visas, has only accelerated this process. People on such visas, whether they were using them to work illegally or not, could not return to China or had to leave once their visas expired.

Yoon, a Korean entrepreneur, was among those who were forced to leave in 2020. He worked in China for over four years under business visas, first as a consultant and later as a restaurant owner in the southwestern city of Chongqing. After COVID-19 hit, he had to close his restaurant, as well as shelve his plan for a new Korean food stall.

Previously, Yoon had never had an issue extending his business visa, but his application for an extension was rejected after his visa expired in May 2020. Yoon, who requested to only use his family name to not harm his chance of returning to China in the future, had to leave the country.

In 2021, the NIA deemed 79,000 foreigners guilty of illegal entry, illegal residence, or illegal employment — dubbed the “san fei” (“three illegals”). Some 44,000 of them were deported. Others were fined, warned, or detained. Data for previous years are not available, but Mindy Hu, the CEO of VisaCare, a government-authorized visa agency, said that the government’s crackdown on san fei foreigners intensified after the outbreak of COVID-19.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

WHO chief says China's zero-COVID policy not 'sustainable'

from Reuters

World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gives a statement on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination, during a European Union - African Union summit, in Brussels, Belgium February 18, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/Pool/File Photo

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"We don't think that it is sustainable considering the behaviour of the virus and what we now anticipate in the future," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing.

"We have discussed this issue with Chinese experts. And we indicated that the approach will not be sustainable... I think a shift would be very important."

He said increased knowledge about the virus and better tools to combat it also suggested it was time for a change of strategy.

The comments come after China's leaders have repeated their resolve to battle the virus with tough measures and threatened action against critics at home even as strict and prolonged lockdowns exact a heavy toll on the world's second-largest economy. 

Speaking after Tedros, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said the impact of a "zero-COVID" policy on human rights also needs to be taken into consideration.

"We have always said as WHO that we need to balance the control measures against the impact they have on society, the impact they have on the economy, and that's not always an easy calibration," said Ryan.

 

 

[Randy W]

What’s It Like to Be a Food Deliveryman in China?
Delivery is huge in China. Apart from meals, you can also order groceries, medicine, and even errands on demand. But the job comes with risks. What’s it like to be a deliveryman in China? We followed one along on a typical day.
This is the third episode of our series “What’s It Like,” which explores social issues in China through intimate, personal stories.

from Goldthread on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/goldthread2/videos/705451853986415/

[Randy W]

1.5 million people could die from Omicron if China were to relax its Covid controls, study warns

A new study has forecast that China could see more than 1.5 million deaths from Omicron infections if stringent Covid-19 controls were lifted without wider vaccine coverage and access to antiviral therapies.

Published in Nature Medicine, the study is from Fudan University in Shanghai and Indiana University in the US

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/402297088410427/