Covid-19 in China

[Randy W]

 

The question Chinese would like to ask Xi Jinping at G20. 
@Lei's Real Talk

Edited November 17, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

China’s Covid-19 wave spurs tighter controls despite Beijing’s calls for ‘targeted’ measures

• Local governments reintroduce mass testing and travel restrictions as cases surge in Beijing, Guangdong and Chongqing
• Latest outbreak comes at critical moment as central government tries to reduce devastating social and economic impact of strict pandemic rules

Covid-19 cases in Beijing exceeded 1,000 for the second day in a row on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

from the SCMP

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On Wednesday, China reported 2,641 local confirmed cases and 26,242 asymptomatic infections, with outbreaks in the southern province of Guangdong, Chongqing municipality in the southwest and capital city Beijing.

The surge comes at a critical moment as China tries to reduce the devastating social and economic impact of Covid-19 control measures.

 . . .

Starting on Thursday, people arriving in Shanghai will be barred from entering public venues including restaurants, shopping centres, supermarkets, gyms and internet cafes for five days.

New arrivals should undergo three PCR tests within the first three days and one more test on the fifth day, the new policy said. If the test results are negative, the person’s health code will no longer show restrictions.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

From tomorrow, to enter all Shenzhen's airport, railway, bus and metro stations, taking public transportation, entering public confined spaces, etc., people must present a 48-hour negative nucleic acid test certificate or nucleic acid sampling within 24 hours.

from Shenzhen Pages on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/shenzhenpages/posts/pfbid02r1FGQ2gwBKGwYFCrgEy2Vdn8H6JREL4jaCKiRq2ZkeL1m8pmbV5G45U57yF4tbhhl

 

[Randy W]

Frustration simmered in China among residents and business groups navigating stricter COVID control curbs as the country reported another historic high of daily infections just weeks after hopes were raised of easing measures.

from Reuters

 

 

[Randy W]

The world’s largest iPhone plant in Zhengzhou descended into chaos this week. In a rare protest that soon turned violent, hundreds of workers vented their anger over changes to lucrative bonus payments that the company had promised to attract new recruits. The unrest points to a growing dissatisfaction toward China’s strict COVID control measures. It also indicates the economic fallout of such curbs and their sustainability, as domestic and global companies like Apple and others bear the brunt. China did ease some of the restrictions early November, but local governments have been cautious of letting go of the tried-and-tested formula as new infections reach a pandemic high. Daily life and economic activities have largely come to a standstill in the capital Beijing and the industrial hub of Guangzhou. Looks like it’ll be a long, harsh winter of restrictions for millions, again. — Bibek Bhandari, editor

After Unrest, Foxconn Agrees to Pay Workers Willing to Leave
Workers at the Zhengzhou iPhone factory accuse the company of changing contract conditions and mixing infected individuals with non-infected ones.

from the Sixth Tone

People line up at Foxconn’s recruiting center in Zhengzhou, Henan province, Nov. 8, 2022

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The Taiwan-headquartered company said Wednesday that those willing to leave will receive 10,000 yuan ($1,400), which workers said was proposed by them and nearly equivalent to the three-month bonus sum. The announcement, which was sent to an internal communication platform and later surfaced online, came after workers protested over pay discrepancies and the company’s COVID control measures starting at around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Fourteen workers told Sixth Tone on Wednesday that Foxconn wasn’t paying them the salary or bonus package above the industry average that initially attracted them to the job. Foxconn had vowed to pay 30 yuan per hour along with 3,000 yuan in monthly bonuses, but workers allege that the company later changed some of the conditions and said they had to work until mid-March to receive the full bonus amount.

“I was tricked by the shady contract. They tricked me here,” said one worker in a WeChat group named “Foxconn, pay me” on Wednesday. The group, which a Sixth Tone reporter was added to, has since changed its name to “Sisters and brothers, let’s escape Foxconn.”

. . .

Domestic media reported that the drive was successful in recruiting 100,000 employees, but Foxconn workers Sixth Tone spoke to said the conditions haven’t improved yet. The discrepancy in their contract, pay deduction for missing work after infectection, and poor virus control measures, they said, forced them to protest starting Tuesday night, which turned violent by Wednesday afternoon.

A military veteran surnamed Liu, who didn’t participate in the protests, said that he joined the local government’s call to work for Foxconn but was disappointed soon after arriving on Nov. 13. His WeChat feed showed photos of instant food items, summer quilts being handed out despite the cold weather, and said there was also a shortage of water. 

“Here, COVID-positive patients work and live with negative ones,” Liu told Sixth Tone, referring to the chaotic virus control measures.

Another worker surnamed Sun, who joined the factory in early November, told Sixth Tone that Foxconn has stopped doing PCR tests on long-term workers to reduce the number of confirmed cases in the factory — another source of discontent that led to the protests.

 . . .

“Don’t come unless you are really short on money. Save your life,” one worker surnamed Ma said on the video-sharing platform Kuaishou, where some workers also livestreamed Wednesday’s unrest.

 . . .

But not everyone was ready to leave. Some workers Sixth Tone spoke with said that they joined Foxconn because of its lucrative salary, and they intended to stay — many didn’t have other work options.

“I only want to earn more before Lunar New Year,” said one worker who didn’t want to be named for fear of retribution. “Foxconn pays the best. If it were not for the pay, who would be willing to come here?”

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Ten people were killed and nine injured after a fire broke out in a high-rise apartment building in the Xinjiang region of China, officials said. Covid lockdowns have confined many of the area's residents to their homes for more than three months.

from the NY Times on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/5281959998/posts/pfbid02YQ2LfMSbg61EfYobWZn14pJmWeHU69jegfHie3e5HLCu38MW6hMCeop6zhcvPm9yl/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Protest in Xinjiang Against Lockdown After Fire Kills 10
A fire in a residential high-rise in Urumqi, where many residents have been under lockdown, set off public anger and questions about China’s zero-Covid policy.

Firefighters spraying water on a fire at a residential building in Urumqi in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, on Thursday, in this still image taken from a video.Credit...UGC, via Associated Press

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Late Friday, videos circulated widely on the Chinese internet showing throngs of residents in Urumqi marching to a government building and chanting “end lockdowns,” the latest sign of mounting frustration with Beijing’s exceptionally stringent pandemic measures. Many of the videos were later removed from China’s heavily censored social media platforms.

The fire was ignited by a power strip that caught fire in a bedroom on the 15th floor of a residential building in Urumqi on Thursday evening, the city’s Fire Department said. It later rose to engulf the two floors above, the department said.

Firefighters sent to the Jixiangyuan neighborhood took three hours to extinguish the blaze, reports said. The authorities said that the dead and injured, who were taken to the hospital, had inhaled toxic fumes.

Much of Xinjiang, a region of 25 million people, has been under lockdown for more than 100 days as part of the authorities’ heavy-handed response to Covid outbreaks. In some cases, the lockdowns have left residents in dire straits, with trouble securing food and other necessities, like medication and menstruation supplies.

State media accounts said that the neighborhood where the fire occurred was a “low-risk management” area, a category of lockdown that allows residents to leave their compounds provided they self-monitor and avoid large gatherings.

But many Chinese internet users were skeptical of the official account. They shared what appeared to be screenshots of conversations between the government and residents of the Jixiangyuan community indicating that the compound had recently been placed under a stricter level of lockdown, which could have made it harder for residents to get to safety.

Chinese commenters also pointed to video footage of what appeared to be attempts at putting out the fire as evidence that a lockdown had stalled the effort. The footage showed pressurized water from a fire hose spraying just out of reach of the burning building, suggesting that fire trucks were unable to get closer to the building. Some users said that cars that had been parked in the area could not be moved because their batteries were dead from having not been used for so long because of the lockdown.

In a sign of the government’s concern about rising public anger, officials organized a late-night news conference on Friday to explain how firefighters responded to the blaze. Memtimin Qadir, the city’s mayor, speaking at the same briefing, apologized to the city’s residents.

Li Wensheng, the head of Urumqi’s Fire Rescue Detachment, acknowledged that fire trucks had been obstructed by parked cars in the neighborhood. He said fire doors in the apartment building had been open, and some residents had been unable to save themselves because they were not familiar with safety exits.

 

 

[Randy W]

Protests Erupt in Shanghai and Other Chinese Cities Over Covid Controls
A chanting crowd called for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to step down, a rare act of defiance reflecting growing anger after nearly three years of lockdowns.

Protesters shouting slogans as police officers looked on in Shanghai on Saturday.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

from the NY Times

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The wider demonstrations followed an outpouring of online anger and a street protest that erupted Friday in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang in western China, where at least 10 people died and nine others were injured in an apartment fire on Thursday. Many Chinese people say they suspect Covid restrictions prevented those victims from escaping their homes, a claim the government has rejected.

The tragedy has fanned broader calls to ease China’s harsh regimen of Covid tests, urban lockdowns and limits on movement nearly three years into the pandemic. For much of that time, many accepted such controls as a price for avoiding the widespread illness and deaths that the United States, India and other countries endured. But public patience has eroded this year as other nations, bolstered by vaccines, moved back to something like normal, even as infections continued. And after years of enforcing the strict “zero Covid” rules, many local officials appear worn down.

The widening discontent may test Mr. Xi’s efforts to hold those rules in place.

“The demonstrations across the country have been like the spark that lit a prairie fire,” James Yu, a resident of Shanghai, said in an interview, adopting a Chinese phrase used to describe the spread of Mao Zedong’s Communist revolution. “I feel like everyone can make their voice loud and clear. It feels powerful.”

The biggest protest on Saturday appeared to be in Shanghai, where hundreds of people, mostly in their twenties, gathered at an intersection of Urumqi Road, named after the city in Xinjiang, to grieve the dead with candles and signs. Many there and elsewhere held sheets of blank white paper over their heads or faces in mournful defiance; white is a funeral color in China.

 . . .

“Xi Jinping!” a man in the crowd repeatedly shouted.

“Step down!” some chanted in response. Many protesters used their phones to record the collective mourning and protests, images that may spread despite censorship, emboldening others to speak out.

The protest dispersed after more police officers moved in, dividing the crowd, and officers dragged some people away, according to Eva Rammeloo, a Dutch journalist who was there posting updates on Twitter.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Proud, Scared and Conflicted. What the China Protesters Told Me.
In more than a dozen interviews, young people explained how the events of the past few days became what one called a “tipping point.”

A protest in Shanghai on Sunday drew crowds and a heavy police presence.Credit...The New York Times

from the NY Times

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Then something cracked.

After nearly three long years of “zero Covid,” which has turned into a political campaign for Mr. Xi, China’s future looks increasingly bleak. The economy is in its worst shape in decades. Mr. Xi’s foreign policy has antagonized many countries. His censorship policy, in addition to quashing challenges to his authority, has killed nearly all fun.

As a popular Weibo post put it, Chinese people are getting by with books published 20 years ago, music released a decade ago, travel photos from five years ago, income earned last year, frozen dumplings from a lockdown three months ago, Covid tests from yesterday, and a freshly baked Soviet joke from today.

 . . .

They went to the protests because they wanted to let the government know how they felt about being tested constantly, locked inside their apartments or kept away from family and friends in the Covid dragnet. And they wanted to show solidarity for fellow protesters.

They are members of a generation known as Mr. Xi’s children, the nationalistic “little pinks” who defend China on Weibo, Facebook and Twitter. The protesters represent a small percentage of Chinese in their 20s and early 30s. By standing up to the government, they defied the perception of their generation. Some older Chinese people said that the protesters made them feel more hopeful about the country’s future.

 

 

No one knows what the protests will become — a moment in history, or a footnote. The official state media has kept quiet, though some pro-government social media bloggers have pointed fingers at “foreign forces.” Police have enhanced their presence on the streets and called or visited protesters in an attempt to intimidate them.

I asked Bruce, a Shanghai finance worker in his 20s, whether the protests meant that people have changed their view of Mr. Xi. He responded, “It was probably not because the public’s opinion of him changed, but because those who are critical of him have spoken up.”

 

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

China’s security chief vows crackdown on ‘hostile forces’ after protests against Covid restrictions

• State media calls on Chinese public to ‘build a barrier of epidemic prevention and control’
• Days after 10 died in Urumqi fire, security forces are urged to prevent and contain major accidents to protect lives and property

from the SCMP

Protesters across China have expressed anger over strict zero-Covid measures. showing a rare direct challenge to the Communist Party. Photo: AP
 

Quote

 

People’s Daily said the pandemic situation in China remained complex, with cluster cases in some regions and the number of local cases rising, particularly because of the short incubation period and more rapid spread of the Omicron variant. It said under these circumstances, negligence in any link or any careless behaviour might cause a rebound in the virus.

Wednesday’s article called for more precise measures, caution, cooperation and confidence, saying people’s thoughts and actions “must be unified with the spirit of Xi Jinping’s important instructions and arrangements of the party Central Committee”, and people must bear responsibility and maintain focus to win the pandemic control war.

 . . .

The meeting called for law-enforcement agencies around the country to take strong measures to safeguard national security and social stability, implement Xi Jinping Thought on the rule of law and national security, and strengthen a “fighting spirit”.

Security forces were called to enhance their political judgment and to settle disputes and people’s difficulties in a timely manner. Furthermore, the meeting called for a firm crackdown “against infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces, illegal activities that disrupt social order according to law”, to maintain stability.
It also urged efforts to eliminate risks in industrial production, and “resolutely prevent and contain major accidents” to protect people’s lives and property.

 . . .

The authorities have tried to track down people who took part in the protests as well as those who went to the scene to watch. Some were issued with warnings and others were summoned to local police stations, the South China Morning Post has learned.

Immediately after the protests, accusations circulated on social media that participants were organised and incited by “foreign forces”.

 

 

[Randy W]

On 10/16/2022 at 10:31 PM, Randy W said:

Moderna and China at impasse over mRNA COVID vaccine

by Richard Daverman
Friday, October 7, 2022  4:29 am

 

Moderna is ‘eager’ to sell its mRNA vaccine in China but balks at the idea of transferring its technology or building a manufacturing facility in the country.

from BioProcess International

The conditions being imposed by China are: Moderna must sign up with a China-based partner, transferring all its technology to the China company and allowing the China company to make the drug, or the company must build a China manufacturing facility, again with a China partner, which would not involve a technology transfer.

 

China has refused to buy Western mRna vaccines, in favor of developing their own.

The Shanghai factory to produce the vaccines was scheduled to be finished at the end of November. No word yet on when the vaccine will be ready for production.

This is from NikeiAsia

China builds plants for mRNA vaccines still in development limbo
CanSino, Sinopharm seek Chinese equivalents of Pfizer and Moderna shots

Sinovac Biotech is among the Chinese players that have developed convential vaccines against COVID-19.   © Reuters

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Chinese drugmakers are building factories meant to produce mRNA vaccines like the Western ones that have been shown to work against COVID-19. There's one problem: the shots look increasingly likely not to be ready by the time the plants are completed.

 . . . and from the PBS

China begins administering inhalable COVID-19 vaccine boosters

Quote

China has relied on domestically developed vaccines, primarily two inactivated vaccines that have proven effective in preventing death and serious disease but less so than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines at stopping the spread of the disease.
Chinese authorities also have not mandated vaccination — entering an office building or other public places requires a negative COVID-19 test, not proof of vaccination. And the country’s strict “zero-COVID” approach means that only a small proportion of the population has been infected and built immunity that way, compared to other places.

 

[Randy W]

This video pretty well covers the situation in China

 Dec 6, 2022
CNN's Selina Wang navigates daily life in Beijing, China, where residents still need to show a negative Covid test for most public places as the country signals it may loosen zero-Covid restrictions.

 

 

[Randy W]

Beijing will no longer require people to show their negative nucleic acid testing results before entering public places such as supermarkets, shopping malls and office buildings starting Tuesday, according to the city government. People only need to scan their health codes before entering those public places. 
The new measures came after the city said public transportation services, including buses and subways, should not refuse passengers who are not holding negative nucleic acid testing results on Monday. 
From Tuesday, the tests results are not required for entering residential communities and villages, either, according to the announcement. The residents don't need to show the test results or scan the health code. 
Meanwhile, some indoor places such as internet cafes, bars, karaoke rooms and certain institutions such as nursing homes, welfare homes, kindergartens and schools will still require the visitors to show negative nucleic acid testing results before entering. 
The announcement said all the districts should continue to provide and improve the nucleic acid tests service for the public. It has also reminded the public to wear masks and reduce gathering.

from China Pictorial on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/ChinaPic/posts/pfbid02o9N5kQm66nrMKcCZncXuRkTvGB22y1TpS5QrEvvq1jiqWCC6JKtji1Rnhyd4k1vnl

 

[Randy W]

Three years into the pandemic, how are China’s COVID testing companies faring? As many companies have released their interim reports for 2022, The Paper’s data team looked into their finances and had three key findings.

• Increasing disparity between revenue and net profit
• Big bucks from the upstream sector
• Unsustainable cash flow

Read more: http://ow.ly/g2Zs50LWfzt

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/photos/a.1604152706570250/3396551947330308

China’s COVID Testing Complex Complains of Paper Profits and Real Losses
The Paper dives into the data to see who’s making bank and who’s in trouble.

Editor’s note: Mass nucleic acid testing has been central to China’s efforts in combating COVID-19 as the pandemic enters its fourth year. However, multiple cities and counties have recently changed their policies, with Chongqing suggesting residents only take nucleic acid tests when necessary and Shenzhen, Beijing, and Tianjin no longer checking test results on public transportation. Meanwhile, IPO applications by testing companies have come under intense scrutiny as they reaped much of their revenue from the pandemic.

Four years into the pandemic, how are China’s COVID testing companies faring? As many companies have released their interim reports for 2022, The Paper’s data team looked into their finances and had three key findings.

[Randy W]

Amy Blondie talks about traveling around China while monitoring the COVID situation.

She starts off with an app on her phone which shows the current number of COVID cases in various Chinese cities.

I haven't figured out what app or web site that is, biut I did come across this, wwhich appears to contain regular updates

China Travel Restrictions & Travel Advisory (Updated December 8, 2022)

Edited December 8, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Pandemic prevention workers remove a sign asking visitors to scan their health codes at a railway station in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, Dec. 8, 2022. The local government announced Wednesday that travelers would no longer be required to scan their health codes at the station, as China races to dismantle its zero-COVID rules. Ma Minyan/CNS/VCG

Check out more Daily Tones: http://ow.ly/z5V850LZ646

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/photos/a.1604152706570250/3398880937097409