COVID-19
China to drop travel tracing as it relaxes ‘zero COVID’
China will drop a travel tracing requirement as part of an uncertain exit from its strict “zero-COVID” policies that have elicited widespread dissatisfaction.
At midnight on Monday, the smart phone app will cease to function, meaning residents’ travels will not be traced and recorded, potentially reducing the likelihood they will be forced into quarantine for visiting pandemic hot spots. China’s ruling Communist Party allows no independent parties to conduct verification and such apps have been used in past to suppress travel and free speech. It’s part of a package of apps that includes the health code, which has yet to be disabled.
The move follows the government’s snap announcement last week that it was ending many of the most draconian measures. That follows three years of lockdowns, travel restrictions and quarantines on those moving between provinces and cities, mandated testing, and requirements that a clean bill of health be shown to access public areas.
Last month in Beijing and several other cities, protests over the restrictions grew into calls for leader Xi Jinping and the Communist Party to step down, in a level of public political expression not seen in decades.
While met with relief, the relaxation has also sparked concerns about a new wave of infections potentially overwhelming health care resources in some areas.
Read: Facing COVID surge, China expanding hospitals, ICUs
Xi’s government is still officially committed to stopping virus transmission, the last major country to try. But the latest moves suggest the party will tolerate more cases without quarantines or shutting down travel or businesses as it winds down its “zero-COVID” strategy.
Facing a surge in COVID-19 cases, China is setting up more intensive care facilities and trying to strengthen hospitals’ ability to deal with severe cases. At the same time, the government reversed course by allowing those with mild symptoms to recuperate at home rather than being sent to field hospitals that have become notorious for overcrowding and poor hygiene.
Reports on the Chinese internet, which is tightly controlled by the government, sought to reassure a nervous public, stating that restrictions would continue to be dropped and travel, indoor dining and other economic activity would soon be returning to pre-pandemic conditions.
China’s leaders had long praised “zero COVID” for keeping numbers of cases and deaths much lower than in other nations, but health officials are now saying the most prevalent omicron variety poses much less of a risk.
Read: China struggles with COVID infections after controls ease
Amid a sharp drop in the amount of testing, China on Monday announced only around 8,500 new cases, bringing the nation’s total to 365,312 — more than double the level since Oct. 1 — with 5,235 deaths. That compares to 1.1 million COVID-19 deaths in the United States.
Protests erupted Nov. 25 after 10 people died in a fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi. Many believed COVID-19 restrictions may have impeded rescue efforts. Authorities denied the claims spread online, but demonstrators gave voice to longstanding frustration in cities such as Shanghai that have endured severe lockdowns.
The party responded with a massive show of force and an unknown number of people were arrested at the protests or in the days following.
Xi’s government promised to reduce the cost and disruption after the economy shrank by 2.6% from the previous quarter in the three months ending in June. Forecasters say the economy probably is shrinking in the current quarter. Imports tumbled 10.9% from a year ago in November in a sign of weak demand.
Some forecasters have cut their outlook for annual growth to below 3%, less than half of last year’s robust 8.1% expansion.
Amid the unpredictable messaging from Beijing, experts warn there still is a chance the ruling party might reverse course and reimpose restrictions if a large-scale outbreak ensues.
Last week’s announcement allowed considerable room for local governments to assign their own regulations. Most restaurants in Beijing, for example, still require a negative test result obtained over the previous 48 hours and rules are even stricter for government offices.
The uncertainty and apparent growing number of cases — despite the lack of government data — have forced the cancellation of events from foreign embassy holiday parties to next spring’s Formula One Chinese Grand Prix car race in Shanghai.
Read: China eases controls, gives no sign when ‘zero COVID’ ends
Meanwhile, pharmacies in Hong Kong have reported a run on Panadol and other cold, flu and headache medications by customers supplying relatives in mainland China, according to Lam Wai-man, chairman of the pharmacy trade association in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city, which has already lifted most of its COVID-19 restrictions.
“Everyone on the mainland wants to buy some pills to have in reserve at home,” Lam said.
Alan Cheung, the owner of the Sands Medicine Shop in the Wan Chai district, said he was receiving around 10 inquiries about flu medication from mainland residents every day. “Normally, no one would ask me about this kind of product normally,” Cheung said.
Covid: Bangladesh sees 29 more cases, zero death
Bangladesh reported 29 more Covid cases in the 24 hours till Sunday morning.
With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,036,806, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,436 as no new fatalities were reported.
The daily case test positivity rose to 1.82 percent from Saturday's 1.25 percent as 1,591 samples were tested during the period.
Read more: Covid: Bangladesh sees 17 more cases, zero death
The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.53 percent, respectively.
In November, the country reported 10 Covid-linked deaths and 1,345 cases.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.
Covid: Bangladesh sees 17 more cases, zero death
Bangladesh reported 17 more Covid cases in the 24 hours till Saturday morning.
With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,036,777, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,436 as no new fatalities were reported.
Read more: Bangladesh sees another Covid death, 438 cases in 24hrs
The daily case test positivity rose to 1.25 percent from Friday's 1.14 percent as 1,355 samples were tested during the period.
The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.53 percent, respectively.
In November, the country reported 10 Covid-linked deaths and 1,345 cases.
Read more: Covid-19 claims two more lives in Bangladesh
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.
Covid: Bangladesh sees 30 more cases, zero death
Bangladesh reported 30 more Covid cases in the 24 hours to Friday morning.
With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,036,760, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,436, as no new fatalities were reported.
The daily case test positivity rose to 1.14 percent from Thursday's 0.99 percent as 2,633 samples were tested during the period.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.45 percent, while the recovery rate rose to 97.53 percent.
Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees one more death, 32 more cases
In November, the country reported 10 Covid-linked deaths and 1,345 cases.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.
China struggles with COVID infections after controls ease
A rash of COVID-19 cases in schools and businesses were reported by social media users Friday in areas across China after the ruling Communist Party loosened anti-virus rules as it tries to reverse a deepening economic slump.
Official data showed a fall in new cases, but those no longer cover big parts of the population after the government on Wednesday ended mandatory testing for many people. That was part of dramatic changes aimed at gradually emerging from “zero-COVID” restrictions that have confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign.
Social media users in Beijing and other cities said coworkers or classmates were ill and some businesses closed due to lack of staff. It wasn’t clear from those accounts, many of which couldn’t be independently confirmed, how far above the official figure the total case numbers might be.
“I’m really speechless. Half of the company’s people are out sick, but they still won’t let us all stay home,” said a post signed Tunnel Mouth on the popular Sina Weibo platform. The user gave no name and didn’t respond to questions sent through the account, which said the user was in Beijing.
The reports echo the experience of the United States, Europe and other economies that have struggled with outbreaks while trying to restore business activity. But they are a jarring change for China, where “zero COVID,” which aims to isolate every case, disrupted daily life and depressed economic activity but kept infection rates low.
Xi’s government began to loosen controls Nov. 11 after promising to reduce their cost and disruption. Imports tumbled 10.9% from a year ago in November in a sign of weak demand. Auto sales fell 26.5% in October.
“Relaxing Covid controls will lead to greater outbreaks,” said Neil Thomas and Laura Gloudeman of Eurasia Group in a report, “but Beijing is unlikely to return to the extended blanket lockdowns that crashed the economy earlier this year.”
Read: China eases controls, gives no sign when ‘zero COVID’ ends
The changes suggest the ruling party is easing off its goal of preventing virus transmission, the basis of “zero COVID,” but officials say that strategy still is in effect.
Restrictions probably must stay in place at least through mid-2023, public health experts and economists say. They say millions of elderly people need to be vaccinated, which will take months, and hospitals strengthened to cope with a surge in cases. Officials announced a vaccination campaign last week.
On Friday, the government reported 16,797 new cases, including 13,160 without symptoms. That was down about one-fifth from the previous day and less than half of last week’s daily peak above 40,000.
More changes announced Wednesday allow people with mild COVID-19 cases to isolate at home instead of going to a quarantine center that some complained were crowded and unsanitary. That addressed a major irritant for the public.
A requirement for subway riders, supermarket shoppers and others to show negative virus tests also was dropped, though they still are needed for schools and hospitals.
A post signed Where Dreams Begin Under Starlight by a user in Dazhou, a southwestern city in Sichuan province, said all but five students in a public school class of 46 were infected.
“It’s really amazing that the school insists students go to school,” the user wrote. The user didn’t respond to a question sent through the account.
The requirement for hundreds of millions of people to be tested as often as once a day in some areas over the past two years helped the government spot infections with no symptoms. Ending that approach reduces the cost of monitoring employees and customers at offices, shops and other businesses. But it increases the risk they might spread the virus.
This week’s changes follow protests that erupted Nov. 25 in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities against the human cost of “zero COVID.”
It isn’t clear whether any of the changes were a response to protests, which died out following a security crackdown.
The ruling party’s Politburo on Wednesday declared stabilizing weak economic growth its priority, though leaders have said local officials still are expected to protect the public.
“The re-pivot to growth and the exit from zero-Covid are clear from the top level,” said Larry Hu and Yuxiao Zhang of Macquarie Group, an Australian bank, in a report. However, they warned, “uncertainties remain high,” including “how disruptive the exit of zero-Covid could be.”
Party leaders stopped talking about the official 5.5% annual growth target after the economy shrank by 2.6% from the previous quarter in the three months ending in June. That was after Shanghai and other industrial centers shut down for up to two months to fight outbreaks.
Private sector economists have cut forecasts of annual growth to as low as below 3%, which would be less than half of last year’s 8.1% and among the weakest in decades.
Social media posts suggested some cities might have outbreaks that weren’t reflected in official figures.
Read: China reports 2 new COVID deaths as some restrictions eased
Posts dated Thursday by 18 people who said they were in Baoding, a city of 11 million southwest of Beijing, reported they tested positive using home kits or had fevers, sore throats and headaches. Meanwhile, the Baoding city government reported no new cases since Tuesday.
Drugstores were mobbed by customers who bought medications to treat sore throats and headaches after rules were dropped that required pharmacists to report those purchases, prompting fears a customer might be forced into a quarantine center.
Also Friday, the market regulator announced prices of some medicines including Lianhua Qingwen, a traditional flu treatment, rose as much as 500% over the past month. It said sellers might be punished for price-gouging.
Lines formed outside hospitals, though it wasn’t clear how many people wanted treatment for COVID-19 symptoms.
People waited four to five hours to get into the fever clinic of Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing, according to a woman who answered the phone there and would give only her surname, Sun. She said no virus test was required but patients had to show a smartphone “health code” app that tracks their vaccine status and whether they have been to areas deemed at high risk of infection.
Hong Kong, which enforces its own anti-virus strategy, has faced a similar rise in cases as the southern Chinese city tries to revive its struggling economy by loosening controls on travel and the opening hours of restaurants and pubs.
Hong Kong reported 75,000 new cases over the past week, up about 25% from the previous week. But those don’t include an unknown number of people who stay at home with COVID-19 symptoms and never report to the government.
Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 22 more cases in 24 hrs
Bangladesh reported 22 more Covid-19 cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
With no deaths reported, the fatalities remained unchanged at 29,435 while with new infections the caseload rose to 2,036,685, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily case test positivity declined to 0.60 per cent from Monday’s 0.96 per cent as 3,607 samples were tested during the period.
Read more: Global Covid cases surpass 650 million
The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.52 per cent, respectively.
In November, the country reported 10 Covid-linked deaths and 1345 cases.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.
Read more: Covid-19: Bangladesh registers another death, 26 cases
Global Covid cases surpass 650 million
The overall number of global Covid-19 cases has now crossed 650 million.
According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 650,329,085 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,647,711 on Tuesday morning.
The US has recorded 100,906,111 cases so far, while 1,106,990 people have died from the virus in the country, both highest counts around the world.
Read: China eases controls, gives no sign when ‘zero COVID’ ends
India reported 226 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the same tally recorded as the previous day, showed data released by the health ministry.
The country also logged two more COVID-19-related deaths during the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 530,630 since the beginning of the pandemic, the ministry said.
The Chinese mainland on Monday reported 4,988 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said Tuesday.
Monday saw no new deaths from COVID-19, with the total death toll at 5,235.
Covid in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported another Covid-linked death with 26 more cases in 24 hours till Monday morning.
With the new numbers, the fatalities rose to 29,435 and the caseload to 2,036,663, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read: Citizens aged above 60 to get 4th dose of Covid vaccine: Health Minister
The daily case test positivity increased to 0.96 per cent from Sunday’s 0.68 per cent as 2,706 samples were tested during the period.
The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.52 per cent, respectively.
Covid-19: Bangladesh registers another death, 26 cases
Bangladesh reported another Covid-linked death with 26 more cases in 24 hours till Monday morning.
With the new numbers, the fatalities rose to 29,435 and the caseload to 2,036,663, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily case test positivity increased to 0.96 per cent from Sunday’s 0.68 per cent as 2,706 samples were tested during the period.
Read: Citizens aged above 60 to get 4th dose of Covid vaccine: Health Minister
The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.52 per cent, respectively.
In November, the country reported 10 Covid-linked deaths and 1345 cases.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.
China eases controls, gives no sign when ‘zero COVID’ ends
China is easing some of the world’s most stringent anti-virus controls and authorities say new variants are weaker. But they have yet to say when they might end a “zero-COVID” strategy that confines millions of people to their homes and set off protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign.
On Monday, commuters in Beijing and at least 16 other cities were allowed to board buses and subways without a virus test in the previous 48 hours for the first time in months. Industrial centers including Guangzhou near Hong Kong have reopened markets and businesses and lifted most curbs on movement while keeping restrictions on neighborhoods with infections.
The government announced plans last week to vaccinate millions of people in their 70s and 80s, a condition for ending “zero-COVID” restrictions that keep most visitors out of China and have disrupted manufacturing and global trade.
That spurred hopes for a quick end to “zero COVID.” But health experts and economists warn it will be mid-2023 and possibly 2024 before vaccination rates are high enough and hospitals are prepared to handle a possible rash of infections.
“China is not ready for a fast reopening yet,” Morgan Stanley economists said in a report Monday. “We expect lingering containment measures. … Restrictions could still tighten dynamically in lower-tier cities should hospitalizations surge.”
The changes follow protests demanding an end to “zero COVID” but are in line with Communist Party promises earlier to reduce disruption by easing quarantine and other restrictions. The changes have been highly publicized in a possible effort to mollify public anger, but there is no indication whether any might have been made in response to protests in Shanghai and other cities.
China is the only major country still trying to stamp out transmission while the United States and others relax restrictions and try to live with the virus that has killed at least 6.6 million people and infected almost 650 million.
The protests began Nov. 25 after at least 10 people died in a fire in an apartment building in Urumqi in the northwest. Authorities denied suggestions firefighters or victims were blocked by locked doors or other anti-virus controls. But the disaster became a focus for public frustration.
Read: China reports 2 new COVID deaths as some restrictions eased
Ahead of the protests, the Communist Party promised to make “zero COVID” less costly and disruptive but said it was sticking to the overall containment strategy.
The party earlier announced updates to the strategy to make it more focused. Authorities began suspending access to buildings or neighborhoods with an infection instead of whole cities. But a spike in cases starting in October prompted areas across China to close schools and confine families to cramped apartments for weeks at a time.
Authorities say they are “further optimizing” controls and warn the country needs to stay alert.
China faces “new situations and tasks” due to the “weakening of the pathogenicity” of the latest omicron variant, a deputy premier in charge of the anti-virus campaign, Sun Chunlan, said last week. She said China has “effective diagnosis and treatment” and has vaccinated more than 90% of its people.
The ruling party is trying to balance “epidemic prevention, economic stability and security for development,” Sun said Wednesday in a conference with health officials, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Despite the changes, Beijing and other cities are telling some residents to stay home or enforcing other restrictions on neighborhoods with infections.
Travelers at the Chinese capital’s train stations and three airports are required to show a negative virus test within the previous 48 hours. Elsewhere, Guangzhou and other cities said areas deemed at high-risk for infection still face additional curbs.
A negative virus test within the past 72 hours still is required to enter public buildings in vast metropolis of Chongqing in the southwest, a hotspot in the latest infection spike. Dining in restaurants in some parts of Beijing still is prohibited.
A newspaper reported last week that some Beijing residents who have mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 cases would be allowed for the first time to isolate themselves at home instead of going to one of China’s sprawling quarantine centers. The government has yet to confirm that.
Forecasters say the struggling economy, already under pressure from weak demand for Chinese exports and a government crackdown on debt in the real estate industry, might be contracting this quarter.
Regulators have responded by freeing up more money for lending and are trying to encourage private investment in infrastructure projects. They have eased some financial controls on real estate developers to reverse a slump in one of China’s biggest industries.
Read: China security forces are well-prepared for quashing dissent
“Policymakers are focusing their efforts on spurring growth,” Eurasia Group analysts said in a report. “However, even if China’s transition away from a strict zero-COVID policy is more decisive and accelerated, meeting public health milestones like increasing elderly vaccination will take months.”
On Monday, the government reported 30,014 new cases, including 25,696 without symptoms. That was down from last week’s daily peak above 40,000 but still close to record daily highs for China.
Xi’s government has held up “zero COVID” as proof of the superiority of China’s system compared with the United States and Western countries. China’s official death toll stands at 5,235 since the start of the pandemic versus a U.S. count of 1.1 million.
China also has suffered a possible rise in fatalities among people with cancer, heart disease and other conditions who struggled to get care while hospitals focused on treating virus cases. Data on those deaths haven’t been reported.
Bangladesh logs 15 more Covid cases in 24 hrs
Bangladesh reported 15 more Covid cases in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
With the new numbers, the caseload rose to 2,036,637, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The total fatalities remained unchanged at 29,434 as no death was reported during this period.
The daily case test positivity increased to 0.68 per cent from Saturday’s 0.65 per cent as 2,193 samples were tested during the period.
Read more: China reports 2 new COVID deaths as some restrictions eased
The mortality and the recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.52 per cent, respectively.
In November, the country reported 10 Covid-linked deaths and 1345 cases.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.
Read more: Bangladesh logs 10 more Covid cases in 24 hrs