APRIL 26: The Chaoyang district reported 26 cases over the weekend - the highest number so far in Beijing's latest surge.
Long queues outside supermarkets and shops were seen despite government assurances there is sufficient food.
It comes amid fears that Beijing could face a similar situation to Shanghai, which has seen some 25 million people shut in their homes for weeks.
'All the meat was snatched up'
All 3.5 million residents in Chaoyang, Beijing's most populous district, will undergo three rounds of mass testing, according to a notice by the city's disease prevention team.
The news prompted residents to rush to stock up essential supplies, with images circulating on local media showing supermarket shelves emptied of goods and snaking queues at check-out counters.
Beijing's major supermarkets also extended their opening hours to accommodate the spike in demand.
"Never thought I would go to the market early in the morning….when I got there, all the eggs and prawns were gone and all the meat was snatched up," said one Weibo user in Shanghai, before adding they managed to get some vegetables.
Another Weibo user in Shanghai said: "Seeing people in Beijing rush to buy food is both funny and distressing… it's like looking at what my own life was like just last month."
State-media news outlet The Global Times said that Beijing's fresh food companies have been ordered to increase the supply of groceries like meat, poultry eggs and vegetables.
They also quoted health experts as saying that the results of the mass testing would indicate whether there is a need to escalate measures further, such as locking down several areas.
Separately, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told state-media outlet China Daily that the number of cases in Beijing is expected to increase in the following days.
The latest outbreak in Shanghai, first detected in late March, has seen more than 400,000 cases recorded so far and 138 deaths.
Some of the measures Chinese authorities have enforced include placing electronic door alarms to prevent those infected from leaving and forcibly evacuating people from their homes to carry out disinfection procedures.
Some in locked-down areas of Shanghai say they have been struggling to access food supplies, and forced to wait for government drop-offs of vegetables, meat and eggs.
Green barricades have also been erected overnight in parts of Shanghai without prior warning, effectively preventing residents from leaving their homes.
In contrast to many other countries, China is pursuing a zero-Covid strategy with the aim of eradicating the virus from the country completely.
While officials managed to keep infection levels relatively low at the beginning of the pandemic, later lockdowns have struggled to contain recent, more transmissible variants of the virus.
How are other parts of China being affected?
Outside Shanghai and Beijing, more than 20 cities, home to more than 30 million people, are under lockdown
In some cities, such as Sanya in the south, people can only enter or leave with a negative Covid test less than 48 hours old, along with a green code on China's covid app
Jiangsu province, where more than 80 million people live, closed 129 highway toll stations and 59 service centres for a period earlier this month
The Ministry of Transport says 11 highway toll stations and 27 service centres remain closed across the country (down from 677 stations and 337 centres on 10 April)
SHANGHAI, April 5: Shanghai on Monday finished the basic collection of samples for nucleic acid testing from its over 24 million residents in the city's latest effort to cut off transmission in communities and contain the latest COVID-19 resurgence, local authorities said on Monday night.
"With the active cooperation of the local residents, the city finished the latest round of nucleic acid sampling work on April 4," the office of the Shanghai municipal leading group for COVID-19 prevention and control said in a statement.
Shanghai conducted the citywide nucleic acid testing on Monday after a mass antigen testing on Sunday. The city has been placed under temporary closed-off management after surging COVID-19 infections were logged in recent days.
Further work, including testing, multiple checks, the transportation of positive cases, and the analysis and assessment of the COVID-19 situation, will be carried out in an orderly manner, according to the statement.
After all work is completed, follow-up control measures will be released based on relevant national regulations and the results of the mass screening
Han Huifeng, a resident of Xuhui District, went downstairs at 9 a.m. after hearing a notice from volunteers via loudspeakers. He queued up and was tested in just three minutes.
He shared his experience in a WeChat group with his neighbors, saying the efficiency had amazed him. Over 2,100 residents of Han's residential community registered and were tested in just three hours, according to management staffers.
Medics in Shanghai even went door-to-door to take samples for some elderly people and pregnant women, and new moms and their babies were also offered convenient and fast services.
Simon Lichtenberg, a Danish citizen living in Changning District, told Xinhua that 390 people from 176 households in his community had completed testing between 6 a.m. and 8:30 a.m on Monday morning.
Amid the resurgence of COVID-19, Lichtenberg has become a community volunteer to help with testing registration, as nearly half of the residents in his community are foreign nationals.
Lichtenberg said the whole testing process has been facilitated.
"This has a lot to do with the participation of community volunteers. We are one family, and our top priority is to overcome all kinds of difficulties caused by the pandemic and tide over the difficulties together," he said.
Food delivery worker Wen Bao'an visits a testing site on Sinar Mas Plaza in Hongkou District every day. It has been set up for supply workers who are sticking to their posts.
"Everything's going on in an orderly fashion here, like people maintaining 2-meter social distancing, which makes me feel quite relieved," said Wen. He spends about 12 hours per day on the road to meet the huge demand for food delivery services and the distribution of other daily necessities.
According to Zhong Xuefeng, who is in charge of the testing site, hundreds of supply workers take nucleic acid testing at the site every day since late March. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to fit workers' schedules and enable them to plan their routes more flexibly.
More than 38,000 medics from 15 provincial-level regions nationwide have rushed to Shanghai to aid in the battle against the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
Some 27,000 medics are responsible for sampling and testing work, and another 11,000 work in temporary hospitals, according to Jiao Yahui, a senior NHC official.
After a three-hour bus trip, Li Liang and about 40 colleagues from neighboring Zhejiang Province arrived in Fengxian District of Shanghai early Monday morning to join in the sampling work.
All the team members have diapers in their luggage, Li said. "We all have to wear diapers as we do not take any rest until all the sampling work is done," said Li.
The city reported 425 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8,581 asymptomatic cases on Sunday, according to the NHC.
As of 9 a.m. of Monday, more than 92,000 close contacts and over 111,000 secondary close contacts had been placed under medical observation in the latest resurgence, according to a press conference held by the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission.
The commission noted that children who test positive can stay with their parents who also test positive in children's wards, being treated simultaneously. Pediatric facilities are in place to ensure the professional treatment and care of all children who test positive in the city.
HONG KONG, August 17 : Asian markets were broadly down Tuesday as investors weighed record gains on Wall Street against fears the resurgent Delta coronavirus variant may put the brakes on the global economic recovery.
Major US indices rebounded overnight from a slow start as bargain hunters stepped up purchases -- leaving both the Dow and S&P 500 finishing narrowly positive to extend a streak of record-high closes to a fifth straight day.
Buoyed by Wall Street, Tokyo opened up, before erasing early gains and closing down for a fourth consecutive session as fears over a surge in virus cases dampened hopes for the recovery.
"As long as the number of new cases continues to rise to record highs, investors won't feel encouraged," Yoshihiro Ito, senior strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a note.
Markets in China have also dragged since a regulatory crackdown on private business by Beijing that has left investors on edge, with Hong Kong tumbling throughout the day and Shanghai closing well down.
The outlook for the global recovery was also hit by Chinese data this week showing retail sales and industrial production slowing in July, with a rapid recovery threatened by renewed localised virus lockdowns and extensive travel restrictions.
Raymond Yeung, chief economist for Greater China at ANZ Banking Group, said the figures "suggest the economy is losing steam very fast".
Surging infections linked to the Delta variant of the coronavirus "also adds extra risk to August's activities", he added.
Markets in Seoul were down, as were Taipei and Sydney, where millions remain under coronavirus restrictions with little end in sight as cases tied to the Delta variant soar.
Wellington also ended the day on losses, hit by news that New Zealand would move into a snap three-day lockdown after recording its first case of locally transmitted Covid-19 in six months.
London, Paris and Frankfurt all opened down. The virus gloom has also hit oil prices, which fell for a fourth straight day in losses prompted by the weak economic data from Beijing.
"As data begins to reflect the full impact of the shutdown in China, investors are worried this negative trend we're seeing won't just be a localised issue," Bart Melek of TD Securities told Bloomberg TV.
"We are moving from expectations of a robust deficit to a potential surplus as the variant continues to halt the growth rate of demand." But some cause for optimism may come later in the day stateside, where investors will be closely watching the US retail sales data for signs that the country's consumer spending remains healthy.
- Key figures around 0720 GMT Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 27,424.47 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.7 percent at 25,725.76
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 2 percent at 3446.97 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 7,122.42
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1764 from $1.1773
Pound/dollar: DOWN at 1.3793 from 1.3830
Euro/pound: UP at 85.293 pence from 85.13 pence
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 109.16 yen from 109.27 yen
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN at 66.78 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN at 69.00 per barrel
New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 35,625.40 (close)
Bloomberg News contributed to this story.
TAIPEI TAIWAN, May 3: Russia is turning to multiple Chinese firms to manufacture the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in an effort to speed up production as demand soars for its shot.
Russia has announced three deals totaling 260 million doses with Chinese vaccine companies in recent weeks. It's a decision that could mean quicker access to a shot for countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa that have ordered Russia's vaccine, as the U.S. and the European Union focus mainly on domestic vaccination needs.
Earlier criticism about Russia's vaccine have been largely quieted by data published in the British medical journal The Lancet that said large-scale testing showed it to be safe, with an efficacy rate of 91%.
Yet, experts have questioned whether Russia can fulfill its pledge to countries across the world. While pledging hundreds of millions of doses, it has only delivered a fraction.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said demand for Sputnik V significantly exceeds Russia’s domestic production capacity.
To boost production, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which bankrolled Sputnik V, has signed agreements with multiple drug makers in other countries, such as India, South Korea, Brazil, Serbia, Turkey, Italy and others. There are few indications, however, that manufacturers abroad, except for those in Belarus and Kazakhstan, have made any large amounts of the vaccine so far.
Airfinity, a London-based science analytics company, estimates Russia agreed to supply some 630 million doses of Sputnik V to over 100 countries, with only 11.5 million doses exported so far.
RDIF declined to disclose how many doses are going to other countries. Through April 27, less than 27 million two-dose sets of Sputnik V have been reportedly produced in Russia.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which has been in charge of international cooperation for Sputnik V, said in April it would produce 100 million doses in collaboration with Hualan Biological Bacterin Inc., in addition to an earlier deal announced in March for 60 million doses with Shenzhen Yuanxin Gene tech Co.
The two deals are in addition to a deal announced last November with Tibet Rhodiola Pharmaceutical Holding Co, which had paid $9 million to manufacture and sell the Sputnik V vaccine in China. RDIF said in April the terms of the deal were for 100 million doses with a subsidiary company belonging to Tibet Rhodiola.
Russia is “very ambitious and unlikely to meet their full targets,” said Rasmus Bech Hansen, founder and CEO of Airfinity. Working with China to produce Sputnik V could be a win-win situation for both Russia and China, he added.
In recent years, Chinese vaccine companies have turned from largely making products for use domestically to supplying the global market, with individual firms gaining WHO preapproval for specific vaccines — seen as a seal of quality. With the pandemic, Chinese vaccine companies have exported hundreds of millions of doses abroad.
Chinese vaccine makers have been quick to expand capacity and say they can meet China’s domestic need by the end of the year.
“This is an acknowledgment of the Chinese vaccine manufacturers who can produce at volume,” said Helen Chen, head of pharmaceuticals LEK Consulting, strategy consultancy firm in Shanghai, in an email.
However, none of the three Chinese companies have yet to start manufacturing Sputnik V.
Tibet Rhodiola started constructing a factory in Shanghai at the end of last year and expects production to start in September, the company said at an annual meeting for investors last month. Tibet Rhodiola’s chairman Chen Dalin also said that after the successful technology transfer, they will start with an order of 80 million doses to sell back to Russia. An employee at the company declined to transfer a phone call request to the company's media department for comment.
The timeline for the newest deals are also unclear. Hualan Bio was among the 10 largest vaccines manufacturers in China in 2019. Phone calls to Hualan Bio went unanswered.
A spokeswoman for Shenzhen Yuanxing declined to say when the company will start production but said their order would not be for sale within China. RDIF had said the production will start this month.
In spite of the delays, Russia’s vaccine diplomacy has made gains.
From the outset, Russia, the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, aimed to distribute it globally. Within weeks of giving Sputnik V regulatory approval, RDIF started actively marketing it abroad, announcing multiple deals to supply the shot to other countries. It is so far winning the “public relations” battle, analysts said in a new report examining Russia and China's vaccine diplomacy from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“Russia has been able to build stronger diplomatic ties and in areas where it hasn’t been able to,” before, said Imogen Page-Jarrett, an analyst at EIU. “They have this window of opportunity while the US, E.U. and India are focusing on domestic and the rest of the world is crying out for a vaccine supply."
HONG KONG, April 27: European and Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday ahead of a big week of key events including the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, Joe Biden's State of the Union address and earnings from tech titans.
While trading floors are geared up for a rocket-fuelled surge in economic activity in the second half of the year and into the next thanks to vaccinations and the easing of lockdowns, investors are in wait-and-see mode for now.
The Fed's gathering, which concludes Wednesday, is broadly expected to see it reassert its pledge to maintain ultra-loose policy until its goals on unemployment and inflation are met, though its statement will be parsed for an idea about the state of the US
economy.
The central bank's meetings are a crucial focus of investor interest as they continue to fret that the expected strong recovery will send prices soaring and force policymakers to raise the record low interest rates that have been a pillar of the global rally.
"From what I can tell, the Fed is very close to meeting its objectives, but remains committed to keeping key short-term interest rates at or near zero through 2023," said markets strategist Louis Navellier.
"The truth of the matter is the Fed can never raise key short-term interest rates much, otherwise it risks blowing up the federal government's budget deficit, which is expected to cross above $30 trillion soon. So we will likely remain in an ultralow interest rate environment for the rest of our lifetimes!" Hilary Kramer, of Kramer Capital Research, was also upbeat.
"I am a bull," she told Bloomberg TV. Fed boss Jerome Powell "is going to make sure he keeps rates low, he's going to lag behind rather than trying to get ahead of inflation".
The release of earnings from Wall Street giants including Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet will be closely watched, with forecasts on the strong side.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both ended Monday at record highs. But Asia struggled to follow suit with most markets swinging in and out of positive territory. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, Seoul, Jakarta and Manila were all in the red but Singapore, Taipei, Mumbai and Bangkok edged up. Shanghai was marginally higher.
London rose soon after the open but Paris and Frankfurt dipped. Oil prices rose after taking a hefty hit in recent days on worries about the impact on demand from the frightening spread of the coronavirus in major consumer India, with a meeting of OPEC and other major producers also in focus.
Wednesday also sees Biden make his first State of the Union address to Congress, during which he could unveil a $1.8 trillion American Families Plan that would provide national child care, paid family leave and free community college, paid for with higher taxes on the rich.
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