Covid-19 in China

[Randy W]

German nationals in China first to receive foreign Covid-19 vaccine

Germans living in China began receiving the BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, the first use of a foreign coronavirus jab in the country.

China gets access to an mRNA vaccine - but for German expats only

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/5828125920586689/

 

German nationals in China first to receive foreign Covid-19 vaccine

Germans living in China began receiving the BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, the first use of a foreign coronavirus jab in the country.

Posted by South China Morning Post on Thursday, January 5, 2023

 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Shanghai hospitals overwhelmed as Covid cases spike

"It is a disaster and a do-or-die game." — A month after China ditched its zero-Covid policy, hospitals are swamped.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/839016337388545/

 

 

Shanghai hospitals overwhelmed as Covid cases spike

"It is a disaster and a do-or-die game." — A month after China ditched its zero-Covid policy, hospitals are swamped.

Posted by South China Morning Post on Thursday, January 5, 2023

 

[Randy W]

Intensive care units will be crucial as China grapples with a massive wave of COVID-19 cases. Data suggests that hospitals have a severe shortage of ICU beds — though how severe remains far from clear.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid02CUw4Y957AZqDaPr7Keci263VL9jnv3yWcZxsSi3QMWup7QcusJrAtK2niHLQW8f4l

 

COVID Is Spreading Explosively in China. Can Its ICUs Cope?
Intensive care units will be crucial as China grapples with a massive wave of COVID-19 cases. Data suggests that hospitals have a severe shortage of ICU beds — though how severe remains far from clear.

Quote

 

Up to 10 million people may have already contracted COVID-19 in Shanghai alone, local health experts estimate. On Chinese social media, users have been posting about their symptoms in droves. COVID memes have become a dark new social media trend.

But things are only going to get harder as the virus continues to spread. A paper published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine in July 2022 predicted that if China allowed its entire population to be infected with Omicron, it would lead to 5.1 million (non-intensive care) hospital admissions, 2.7 million intensive care unit admissions, and 1.6 million deaths within three months. That is almost the same number of deaths caused by the four most lethal cancers in China in 2020.

 

 

[Randy W]

“The appetite for COVID-related rumors in China reflects a broader failure by health officials to deliver clear and convincing information to the public. After three years of ‘zero-COVID,’ ordinary Chinese have little firsthand knowledge of the virus.”

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid0Y9rNAdgoGwwnRGGpjW5CDxoztGz9xnTzhZKhupPQrEQvSJKejJr8r5mm94A2xQ1wl

 

How COVID Misinformation Swamped Chinese Social Media
Messaging failures and bad incentives have left Chinese social media groaning under a deluge of COVID-related misinformation.

Quote

 

The post tapped into widespread fears that China’s reopening was not the end of the pandemic, but merely the beginning of a period of infection and reinfection that could last years. There was just one problem: It was fake. After users questioned the speed with which the poster’s sample had been identified, he explained that it had been genetically sequenced by his colleagues at the Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention lab. Officials with the local CDC called the police: They couldn’t find the poster’s name on their employee roster, and more importantly, the lab he referenced didn’t exist. Two days later, Chinese police identified the self-proclaimed biology Ph.D. as a clerk at a convenience store.

This is far from an isolated case. Another recent viral post on the dangers the XBB variant poses to the digestive system helped kickstart a nationwide run on diarrhea drugs — a run that has persisted even after the writer acknowledged his knowledge of the virus was limited to what he had read on the internet.

Such rumors may seem harmless, but as millions of Chinese families struggle to protect themselves from an unprecedented wave of COVID-19 infections, misinformation is straining an already overstretched medical system. Medical resources in hard-hit regions are all but exhausted: Doctors are working through fevers and supplies of key drugs are critically low. Panic purchases of unnecessary medicines only increase the pressure on the system.

The appetite for COVID-related rumors in China reflects a broader failure by health officials to deliver clear and convincing information to the public. After three years of “zero-COVID,” ordinary Chinese have little firsthand knowledge of the virus. Much of what they do know has been colored by years of dire warnings about the risks associated with the disease — part of a campaign to bolster the legitimacy of the country’s strict pandemic controls.

But after these restrictions came to an abrupt end early last month, public health messaging downgraded COVID-19 from the level of a SARS variant to a mere flu. The result was a crisis of trust. Many Chinese refused to believe officials’ rosy reassurances about the disease’s mild symptoms, instead turning to the internet in search of more reliable information.

 

 

[Randy W]

 

see CFL topic Can You Get Into China?

Excitement as China opens borders to quarantine-free travel

 

[Randy W]

Llewellyn Cheung documented his trip on the first day of the reopening, when he witnessed reunions of friends and families, as well as problems that still linger after the extended border closure.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/575941750567493/

 

 

What was it like travelling from Hong Kong to mainland China as the border reopened?

Llewellyn Cheung documented his trip on the first day of the reopening, when he witnessed reunions of friends and families, as well as problems that still linger after the extended border closure.

Posted by South China Morning Post on Monday, January 9, 2023

 

 

[Randy W]

China retaliates against travel restrictions by suspending short-term visas for Japanese and South Koreans

• Chinese embassy in South Korea says visas for business, tourism, medical treatment, transit and general private affairs are suspended for South Koreans
• Seoul ‘regretful’ for China’s action; foreign ministry says South Korea’s strengthened quarantine is ‘based on scientific and objective grounds’

China says its suspension of visas for South Koreans was triggered by “South Korea’s discriminatory entry restrictions on China”.
 

Quote

 

South Korea had earlier suspended issuing short-term visas to Chinese travellers until January 31, ruling the tourists out from entering the country. Flights between South Korea and China are also limited to Seoul’s Incheon International airport, with flights bound for Busan, Daegu and Jeju suspended.

On Tuesday, Seoul announced that flights from Hong Kong and Macau would also only be permitted to land at Incheon, ruling out other destinations.

China’s announcement came after newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang protested to his South Korean counterpart Park Jin about the travel restrictions in a phone call on Monday.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

How political and economic pressure led to Beijing’s abrupt U-turn on zero-Covid

• Xi acknowledged frustrations about pandemic-control policies at meeting in December
• Sources say leading cadres in major economic powerhouses reported dire situations

 

from the SCMP

Quote

 

One health official said an earlier reopening plan would have seen the process start after the annual meetings of the national legislature and the country’s top political advisory body in March.

“March would have been a better time,” he said. “We would have had more time to shore up the vaccination rate, especially among senior citizens.”

The official added that higher temperatures would also have helped slow down the spread of infections.

That plan was based on a gradual approach to relaxing controls that aimed to achieve full reopening before September, when China will host the delayed 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province.

Another advantage of reopening in March was that key appointments to the State Council, China’s cabinet, would have been finalised, the official, who requested anonymity, said.

“We would have had a clear command chain,” he said.

 . . .

As late as November 15, the party mouthpiece People’s Daily published a commentary doubling down on “dynamic zero”. It said the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was more transmissible and that a spike in infections would inflict higher economic and social costs, given China’s limited medical resources.

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Hospitals all over China are struggling to cope as a wave of COVID-19 infections rips through the population. Doctors describe shocking levels of overcrowding, shortages of key supplies, and medical teams weakened by mass infections.

I've been to the hospital (as an outpatient) twice so far this year - first for COVID, and now for an enlarged prostate (I'm facing 5 days of I.V.s for that, but I expect no problems from it). Here in Yulin, it's nowhere near as bad, although there ARE a lot of COVID cases.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid034ziT5kpjQu6Lu5N7fhtRFbzofqZHWDj8tkmGvSQLcYG6qWSP26UAuhC4VqssxMDXl

‘It’s Insane’: China’s Doctors Struggle to Cope Amid COVID Surge
Chinese medical workers say the COVID-19 wave is the worst crisis they have faced in decades. Mass infections among hospital staff are only making things worse.

Quote

 

The team in Shanghai is treating up to 600 patients a day — almost 20% more than the same period last year, Xu estimates. And they’re having to do so with four out of six doctors infected with COVID-19.

“I’ve worked at this hospital for over 30 years, but I’ve never seen the emergency room as busy as it is now,” says Xu, who spoke with Sixth Tone using a pseudonym to protect her privacy. “Ambulances keep arriving with people in a critical condition. When I treat my patients, I constantly worry about whether there are enough seats in the infusion center.”

 . . .

By the end of December, Xu’s department was already receiving record numbers of patients. The team is based at one of two major hospitals in Chongming — an island on the northeastern tip of Shanghai, where the Yangtze River bleeds into the East China Sea.

Most of the patients are in their 80s and 90s, and the vast majority have pneumonia, Xu says. The hospital’s emergency room has been completely overrun.

“Given the crisis at the emergency room, we can no longer transfer patients for hospitalization,” she says. “The few remaining beds in the inpatient department are reserved for patients from the emergency room.”

A few days ago, Xu was treating a patient with a serious heart condition who required immediate hospitalization. But the overcrowding in the emergency room had become so severe, she was physically unable to enter the department.

 

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Trains between Guangzhou, Shenzhen and West Kowloon in Hong Kong on the Guangzhou- Shenzhen- Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) will be the first to run between the mainland and Hong Kong on January 15th after the service was stopped for 3 years due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

 

from Shenzhen Pages on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/305447029839943/posts/pfbid0D7CJ1mJMNcYSqrRh5J5vNsiw7Ut2rzDZ2UJ2KWr4qEWF2eugVvBkeBgEWSoU1qatl/?mibextid=Nif5oz

 

[Randy W]

Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo
interview with Wang Xiangwei "China Expert"

"Every Chinese official should prepare for the worst case scenario"

"In the end, there was no preparation"

"Now is too late"

"China should have shared more information with the international community"

Offers of vaccines from the US and Europe were refused

A very good video, well worth the listen

Edited January 14, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

On 1/14/2023 at 4:32 PM, Randy W said:

Trains between Guangzhou, Shenzhen and West Kowloon in Hong Kong on the Guangzhou- Shenzhen- Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) will be the first to run between the mainland and Hong Kong on January 15th after the service was stopped for 3 years due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

 

from Shenzhen Pages on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/305447029839943/posts/pfbid0D7CJ1mJMNcYSqrRh5J5vNsiw7Ut2rzDZ2UJ2KWr4qEWF2eugVvBkeBgEWSoU1qatl/?mibextid=Nif5oz

 

High-speed trains between Guangzhou, Shenzhen and West Kowloon in Hong Kong on the Guangzhou- Shenzhen- Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) have resumed operation this morning after the service was stopped for 3 years due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

https://www.facebook.com/shenzhenpages/videos/557743472691609/

 

High-speed trains between Guangzhou, Shenzhen and West Kowloon in Hong Kong on the Guangzhou- Shenzhen- Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) have resumed operation this morning after the service was stopped for 3 years due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Posted by Shenzhen Pages on Sunday, January 15, 2023

 

[Randy W]

Hospitals and pharmacies quiet again: How rural China survived the Covid-19 surge

Rural areas in China have been hit hard by a surge in Covid-19 cases after the central government abruptly dropped most pandemic restrictions in early December 2022.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/495680715826362/

 

 

Hospitals and pharmacies quiet again: How rural China survived the Covid-19 surge

Rural areas in China have been hit hard by a surge in Covid-19 cases after the central government abruptly dropped most pandemic restrictions in early December 2022.

Posted by South China Morning Post on Monday, January 16, 2023

 

 

[Randy W]

Beijing Daxing International #Airport began resuming international and regional flights on Tuesday following the optimization of immigration, aviation and customs policies earlier this month. #BackToWork https://bit.ly/3GLNoHf

from China Daily on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/chinadaily/posts/pfbid037JPeFETUmt9Gg7tAQHRf9RWAzSzyj3FFUv7QRvaCh4iRY4abUZCrXbwfxRhrqfyHl

 

 

[Randy W]

No longer afraid: people in Chinese city of Wuhan begin to leave Covid pandemic behind

Wuhan, along with many other Chinese cities, initially saw a spike in cases when China relaxed its zero-Covid policy. But weeks later, the city’s residents appear ready to move past the pandemic.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/627121932750335/

 

 

No longer afraid: people in Chinese city of Wuhan begin to leave Covid pandemic behind

Wuhan, along with many other Chinese cities, initially saw a spike in cases when China relaxed its zero-Covid policy. But weeks later, the city’s residents appear ready to move past the pandemic.

Posted by South China Morning Post on Monday, January 23, 2023