Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
The PAGEs (see Tabs, above) attempt to make the information more meaningful by putting some structure to the information we have researched and assembled since 2006.
More than 1,300 people are now known to have died from the virus.
The latest figures show 122 new deaths in China, bringing the toll to 1,381.
The total number of infections has jumped to 63,922 cases, according to the National Health Commission.
The World Health Organization said there was no major shift in the virus’s pattern of mortality or severity, despite a spike in cases in Hubei, the epicentre of the disease, on Tuesday.
Most of this was down to Hubei using a broader definition to diagnose people, said Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies programme.
There was also no significant rise in cases outside China, the WHO said.
However, a cruise ship docked in Japan, the Diamond Princess, saw 44 new cases, bringing the total there to 218.
What is the situation with medical workers?
Zeng Yixin, vice minister of China’s National Health Commission, said 1,102 medical workers had been infected in Wuhan, where the outbreak began, and another 400 in other parts of Hubei province.
He said the number of infections among staff was increasing.
Media caption Medics in Wuhan resort to shaving their heads in a bid to prevent cross-infection of the coronavirus
“The duties of medical workers at the front are indeed extremely heavy; their working and resting circumstances are limited, the psychological pressures are great, and the risk of infection is high,” Mr Zeng said, quoted by Reuters.
Local authorities have struggled to provide protective equipment such as respiratory masks, goggles and protective suits in hospitals in the area.
One doctor told AFP news agency that he and 16 colleagues were showing possible symptoms of the virus.
On 7 February the plight of medical workers was highlighted by the death of Li Wenliang, a doctor at Wuhan Central Hospital who had tried to issue the first warning about the virus on 30 December.
Image copyright LI WENLIANGImage caption Li Wenliang contracted the virus while working at Wuhan Central Hospital
He had sent out a warning to fellow medics but police told him to stop “making false comments”.
A wave of anger and grief flooded Chinese social media site Weibo when news of Dr Li’s death broke.
Image copyright AFPImage caption Asian airlines have been hard hit by the virus outbreak
Economic impacts of the virus
Global airline revenue expected to fall by $4bn (£3.1bn) to $5bn this year
China’s car sales likely to fall more than 10% in first half of year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers tells Reuters
Singapore’s economy could fall into recession as a result of the outbreak, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says
Malaysian finance minister says a stimulus package will be announced for aviation, retail and tourism industries
What is happening on the Diamond Princess?
The vessel is in quarantine in Yokohama, in southern Japan. Not all the 3,700 people on board have been tested yet.
People with the virus are taken to hospitals on land to be treated, while those on board are largely confined to their cabins.
Image copyright AFPImage caption The Diamond Princess has 3,700 people on board – not all of whom have been tested
However on Thursday Japan said it would allow those aged 80 or over who have tested negative for the coronavirus to disembark.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said they could be allowed off the ship as early as Friday but would have to stay in accommodation provided by the government, the Japan Times reported.
Meanwhile another cruise ship – the MS Westerdam, carrying more than 2,000 people – docked in Cambodia after being turned away by ports in Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Thailand despite having no sick patients on board.
Media caption The Westerdam was finally able to dock in Sihanoukville, Cambodia
In other developments:
Outside China there have now been two deaths and 456 cases in 24 countries
Singapore health ministry reports nine new cases, bringing the total number there to 67
Australia has extended its ban on people coming from mainland China for another week, to 22 February
China said it would stagger the return of children to school – several provinces have closed schools until the end of February
In Vietnam, which borders China, thousands of people in villages near the capital, Hanoi, have been put under quarantine after several cases were discovered. Vietnam has now confirmed at least 16 cases
The Red Cross has called for sanctions relief for North Korea, which would allow the aid agency to transfer funds to buy equipment. Testing kits and protective clothing are urgently needed to prepare for a possible outbreak, it says
A Russian woman – who was put into a coronavirus quarantine but escaped – is resisting attempts by officials to bring her back to hospital by force. Alla Ilyina, 32, has been refusing to open the door of her St Petersburg apartment to police
WHO scientists co-write letter saying December 26 data indicating Sars-like coronavirus was not passed to global health community for 17 days
Hundreds of Chinese sign petition asking legislature to protect freedom of speech, amid discontent over outbreak’s handling and anger over Dr Li Wenliang’ death
A nurse in a protective suit feeds a coronavirus patient in an isolated ward in Wuhan. Photo: Reuters
China’s health authority reported 97 new deaths caused by the coronavirus and 2,015 newly confirmed cases of infection, taking its totals to 1,113 and 44,653 respectively.
As of Tuesday, 744 recovered patients had been discharged and the total number of recovery cases stood at 4,740.
Outside Hubei province, the epicentre of the coronavirus, the rise in new infections reported by China slowed for an eighth consecutive day.
Apology for slow treatment
A district leader in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan apologised on Tuesday to critically ill patients who had not been treated in a timely manner, state media reported.
Staff in the Wuchang district who were in charge of a chaotic bus transfer of people to hospital on Sunday were ordered to apologise to patients and their families one by one by telephone.
Wuchang officials told state media that mistakes had been made and the district’s most urgent priority was to admit all patients to hospitals or other medical facilities as soon as possible.
As coronavirus cases get priority in Wuhan, other patients are losing hope
13 Feb 2020
The district leader, who visited hospitals to apologise in person, was mocked online for wasting protective suits when the city faces a shortage of medical supplies.
“Health care workers don’t have enough protective gear, why are you wearing it to apologise?” one person wrote on China’s Twitter-like Weibo. “These people are suspected cases, not confirmed ones. It’s a pity to waste the protective gear – it protects the lives of health care workers!”
“I really don’t think it’s necessary to apologise one by one, just apologise in the newspaper! Don’t waste time and protective clothing on formalities,” another person wrote.
Reporting system ‘needs update’
A group of scientists have called for changes in the way new viruses are reported, after a delay of more than two weeks between the first indication of a coronavirus strain in Hubei and the release of critical information to the global health community.
The group said in a letter to The Lancet that data indicating a Sars-related coronavirus was obtained by researchers on December 26.
Life inside China’s rapidly built hospitals in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak
“The Chinese authorities ruled out Sars and Mers, as well as a few other non-coronaviruses, on January 5, and confirmed a novel coronavirus as a potential cause on January 9. However, the genome sequence – crucial for rapid development of diagnostics needed in an outbreak response – was not released until January 12, 17 days after the preliminary sequence data were obtained,” they wrote.
The letter mentioned the “crucial role” of doctors in detecting the outbreak in China, including “eight doctors who were wrongly accused of spreading ‘fake news’” – a reference to a group that included Li Wenliang, the doctor hailed as a whistle-blower who later succumbed to the disease.
WHO head warns ‘time is of the essence’ in limiting coronavirus spread
13 Feb 2020
“There are lessons the global health community can and should learn and act on so that we can better respond to the next EZV (emerging zoonotic virus) event, which is almost certain to happen again. These lessons are definitely not unique to China,” they wrote.
Two of the letter’s authors sit on the committee that provides the World Health Organisation (WHO) advice about when to declare a public health emergency of international concern – a status given to the coronavirus on January 30.
Hubei reports 94 new deaths
Health authorities in Hubei reported 94 new deaths attributable to the contagion on Tuesday and 1,638 newly confirmed cases, taking the province’s totals to 1,068 and 33,366 respectively. They had reported 103 fatalities and 2,097 newly confirmed cases a day earlier.
Coronavirus illness is named Covid-19 as hopes rise that cases may peak soon
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Some 1,104 of the new cases announced were confirmed in Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated at a seafood and meat market.
The figures from Hubei on Tuesday showed the province’s lowest number of new cases in a day since the beginning of February, and the first time it had reported fewer than 2,000 new cases in a day since February 2.
China disinfects entire cities to fight coronavirus outbreak, some twice a day
Disease can spread faster than Sars: WHO
Michael Ryan, the WHO’s head of emergency programmes, said on Tuesday in Geneva that the disease caused by the coronavirus – now officially named Covid-19 by the WHO – had the potential to spread faster than either the Ebola or Sars viruses. Earlier this week, Covid-19 exceeded the Sars outbreak of 2002-03 in terms of deaths attributed to it.
Transmission methods have been shown to include human-to-human contact, and the incubation period is believed to be up to 14 days.
In recent days, epidemiologists have said that the contagion may also spread through “aerosol transmission” – when tiny particles or droplets of the virus suspended in the air are inhaled.
At least 500 Wuhan medical staff infected with coronavirus
13 Feb 2020
Others indicated that transmissions were possible from patients who showed mild or no symptoms.
WHO officials said on Tuesday that the agency had also activated a UN crisis management team to better assess and mitigate the outbreak’s economic implications.
Petition calls for freedom of speech
Hundreds of Chinese, led by academics, have signed an online petition calling on the national legislature to protect citizens’ right to freedom of speech, amid growing public discontent over the handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
It also follows a massive outpouring of grief and anger over the death of Wuhan-based Dr Li Wenliang.
Coronavirus: hundreds in China sign petition calling for free speech
13 Feb 2020
The petition is gaining momentum online, but some of the signatories and other rights activists have already come under pressure. Addressed to the National People’s Congress (NPC), it lists five demands for Beijing.
The demands are: to protect people’s right to freedom of expression; to discuss the issue at NPC meetings; to make February 6, the day Li died, a national day for free speech; to ensure no one is punished, threatened, interrogated, censored or locked up for their speech, civil assembly, letters or communication; and to give equitable treatment, such as medical care, to people from Wuhan and Hubei province. Many have reported experiencing discrimination elsewhere in the country.
“I am so proud of him,” China’s top medical expert Zhong Nanshan mourns whistle-blower doctor’s dea
US repeats concern over China’s purchases
The outbreak could have an impact on China’s commitment to buy more US agricultural products this year under the US-China phase one trade deal, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said on Tuesday.
“We expect the phase one deal will allow China to import more food and open those markets to American farmers, but certainly, as we watch this coronavirus outbreak unfold in China, it could have an impact on how big – at least in this current year – the purchases are,” O’Brien told an event at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.
‘No US doctors in China’
O’Brien said there were no American doctors on the ground in China so far, despite US offers to help fight the outbreak.
“We’ve offered the Chinese the opportunity to have American doctors … and other experts come to China to help them. That offer has not been accepted at this point but that is an outstanding offer,” he said.
Coronavirus outbreak exposes fallacy of the phase-one trade deal
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But US officials said on Monday that China had agreed to allow American health experts into the country.
“China has accepted the United States’ offer to incorporate a group of experts into a WHO mission to China to learn more about and combat the virus,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said.
In a tweet on Monday, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said an advance team of WHO experts had arrived in China to “lay the groundwork for the larger international team”.
Tibet’s only patient cured
The only Covid-19 patient in Tibet was cured and discharged from hospital on Wednesday afternoon, People’s Daily reported, citing the patient’s doctor at the Third People’s Hospital of Tibet.
The patient, a 34-year-old man from Suizhou, Hubei province, spent three days on a train before reaching Lhasa on January 24. He sought medical treatment a day later and was isolated for treatment, before being confirmed as being infected on January 29.
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The man tested negative for the virus on Sunday and Tuesday, and CAT scans and clinical symptoms showed he had been cured. He left Tibet by train on Wednesday afternoon, according to thePeople’s Daily report.
Iran denies report of Covid-19 death
Iran’s health ministry has denied a report that an Iranian woman has died of a suspected coronavirus infection.
The state daily newspaper Iran reported on Wednesday that a 63-year-old woman had died in a Tehran hospital on Monday and that an investigation had been ordered into the cause of her death. No sources were cited in the report.
A spokesman for Iran’s health ministry denied the report. “There have been no cases of coronavirus in Iran,” he said.
Iranian health authorities have repeatedly said there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country.
Exams under threat
Chinese authorities are considering whether to postpone the country’s college entrance exams, due to take place in June.
“Those responsible for arranging college entrance exams need to put the lives and health of candidates and testing staff first,” Wang Hui, a Ministry of Education official, said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “We will closely monitor the development of the outbreak, evaluate the possible impact on the exams and carefully formulate a plan.”
Elderly resident says he can’t recall this happening in his city before, not even during the Cultural Revolution
Outbreak is expected to deal a heavy blow to businesses, especially smaller eateries, with some already forced to close
Like many elderly Chinese in Guangzhou, He Zhijian was shocked when he heard there was a ban on eating in restaurants, as authorities try to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The 73-year-old has spent his entire life in the southern city, where gathering for dim sum is an important weekly family ritual.
“My wife and I … are used to having dim sum, tea and Cantonese dishes at the local restaurants every week. From memory, this [type of ban] has never happened in Guangzhou before – not even during the Cultural Revolution,” He said, referring to the decade of social and political upheaval from 1966, when food was in short supply.
The ban took effect at 9pm on Wednesday and is part of measures to contain the outbreak of the virus, which causes a disease officially known as Covid-19, and is believed to have started in Wuhan in December. The pneumonia-like illness has so far
Residents can still get takeaway meals in Guangzhou, but they have been encouraged to order online and have them delivered. Photo: He Huifeng
Guangzhou is home to more than 15 million people and a busy trading port, and has been known as China’s most open city since the 1600s. For locals, going to restaurants for yum cha, or “drinking tea”, and dining on dim sum is an important part of the city’s history and culture – a tradition that has been carried through many generations.
“Even in the ‘three years of natural disasters’ [from 1959 to 1961, when China was in the grip of a famine] I remember there were still restaurants open,” He said. “I was really shocked [by the ban]. I guess the epidemic situation must be severe, otherwise Guangzhou definitely wouldn’t introduce this measure.”
China’s Hubei province reports huge spike in coronavirus cases, rising 10-fold from previous day
Many people in Guangzhou and across the country went back to work on Monday after an extended Lunar New Year break – another measure to try to stop the virus from spreading – with the government keen for businesses to return to normal operations.
The ban on dining in applies to restaurants, but employees can continue to have meals at their company canteens. And while residents can still get takeaways from restaurants, they have been encouraged to do this online, and have their meals delivered, rather than collecting their orders.
Group gatherings have also been banned in the city, and according to Nanfang Daily, some 126 banquets that would have involved more than 90,000 people have been cancelled by authorities already. The authorities did not say how long the measures would be in place.
Guangzhou is not the only city in Guangdong province to bring in a ban on dining in restaurants – Futian district in Shenzhen, Xiangzhou in Zhuhai, Foshan and Zhongshan have all taken the same step.
Beijingers gradually return to work as China’s fight against deadly coronavirus continues
In Guangzhou, while residents try to adapt, businesses are expecting to take a hit. One of the city’s top hotels said the virus outbreak could have a severe impact on the industry.
“Now we will focus on promoting takeaways for local customers. They can order our meals through apps providing online takeaway ordering services,” said Fion Liang, director of sales and marketing at The Garden Hotel. “As for guests staying in the hotel we will deliver meals to their rooms.”
To work or not to work: the difficult coronavirus question facing China
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She said the outbreak did not have a big impact on the hotel’s business in January, because the situation only became severe at the end of the month.
“The impact was definitely much bigger in February. If the epidemic continues to be severe throughout February, the occupancy rate of our rooms will be in the single digits this month,” Liang said. “[Most] hotels in Guangzhou are in the same situation.”
The outbreak is expected to deal a heavy blow to restaurants in the city, especially smaller eateries, and some have already been forced to close. June Zhao, the owner of dumpling restaurant Xi Xi, decided to shut down on Wednesday – the day the eat-in ban was announced.
Prospects had been good for the restaurant – it also sold books and alcohol in the evenings, and its trendy decor drew a young crowd.
“We had just started making money last winter and we were looking forward to earning more over the Lunar New Year holiday. But then the coronavirus came, our turnover fell to several hundred yuan a day, and we lost hope,” she said. “The new ban makes this situation worse – takeaway is not a good choice for dumplings, especially in winter. The losses will continue if we stay open.”
Coronavirus: major cities given power to seize private property
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The ban has also interrupted daily routines. Freelance cameraman Cony Yu, 28, usually spends some of his working day at cafes, but that is no longer possible. “[Now] I don’t have a comfortable place to sit aside from my home – even the parks have all been closed,” Yu said.
China disinfects entire cities to fight coronavirus outbreak, some twice a day
In the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, dining in has also been banned in central Futian district. Zhu Hao, a financial analyst based in the district, has been working from home for a week and ordering takeaway food every day. But he has to collect it from the gate at his residential compound, where security staff check the temperature of anyone entering or leaving.
He is losing patience with the restrictions. “I want to eat out. I want beef hotpot, coconut chicken, Korean barbecue and seafood,” he said.
In other Shenzhen districts, many restaurants and shopping centres have been temporarily closed or can only provide takeaway meals – including fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Starbucks.
Other places have strict rules for customers. At a bread shop, customers must register their ID and phone numbers and have their temperatures checked before they can enter. And for now, all hotpot restaurants have been closed.
Excluded from the World Health Organisation on mainland China’s objections, Taipei said it dealt directly with organisation on outbreak
Beijing and the WHO say they ensured Taiwan was kept up to date with virus developments
Taiwan says it dealt directly with the WHO over the virus outbreak and did not need mainland China’s permission to do so. Photo: Getty Images
Taiwan’s presence at a World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting this week on the coronavirus outbreak that started in mainland China was the result of direct talks between the island and the body, and did not require Beijing’s permission, Taipei
said on Wednesday.
Its exclusion from WHO membership because of Chinese objections has been an increasingly sore point for Taiwan during the outbreak. It complained that it was unable to get timely information from the WHO and accused Beijing of passing incorrect information about Taiwan’s total virus case numbers, which stand at 18.
But in a small diplomatic breakthrough for the island – which mainland China regards as a wayward province – its health experts were this week allowed to attend an online technical meeting on the virus.
The Chinese foreign ministry said that was because Beijing gave approval for Taiwan’s participation. Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said China was trying to take credit for something it did not deserve.
Coronavirus: Taiwan restricts travellers from Hong Kong and Macau amid outbreak crisis
“The participation of our experts at this WHO forum was an arrangement made by our government and the WHO directly. It did not need China’s approval,” Ou said.
Taiwan’s experts took part in a personal capacity to avoid political disputes, and did not give their nationality when joining the online forum, she said.
Coronavirus: Everything you need to know in a visual explainer
Taiwan’s WHO exclusion became another point of contention between China and the United States last week, after the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva told the WHO’s executive board that the agency should deal directly with Taipei.
Mainland China, which said Beijing adequately represents Taiwan at the WHO, accused the US of a political “hype-up” about the issue.
Beijing and the WHO said they had ensured Taiwan was kept up to date with virus developments and that communication with the island was smooth.
Beijing insists that Taiwan cannot be part of the World Health Organisation as the island is part of “one China”. Photo: AFP
Taipei said that it alone had the right to represent the island’s 23 million people, that it has never been a part of the People’s Republic of China, and that it has no need to be represented by it.
BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China reported on Wednesday its smallest number of coronavirus cases since January, lending weight to a prediction by its top medical adviser for the outbreak to end by April, but a global infectious diseases expert warned of the spread elsewhere.
Financial markets took heart from the outlook of the Chinese official, epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, who said on Tuesday the number of new cases was falling in some provinces, and forecast the epidemic would peak this month, even as the death toll in China rose to more than 1,100 people.
World stocks, which had seen rounds of sell-offs over the virus, surged to record highs on hopes of a peak in cases. The Dow industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all hit new highs, and Asian shares nudged higher on Wednesday.
But the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the epidemic poses a global threat akin to terrorism and one expert coordinating its response said while the outbreak may be peaking at its epicentre in China, it was likely to spread elsewhere in the world, where it had just begun.
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“It has spread to other places where it’s the beginning of the outbreak,” the official, Dale Fisher, head of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network coordinated by the WHO, said in an interview in Singapore.
“In Singapore, we are at the beginning of the outbreak.”
Singapore has reported 47 cases and worry about the spread is growing. Its biggest bank, DBS (DBSM.SI), evacuated 300 staff from its head office on Wednesday after a confirmed coronavirus case in the building.
Hundreds of cases have been reported in dozens of other countries and territories around the world, but only two people have died outside mainland China – one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday the world had to “wake up and consider this enemy virus as public enemy number one” and the first vaccine was 18 months away.
In China, total infections have hit 44,653, health officials said, including 2,015 new confirmed cases on Tuesday. That was the lowest daily rise in new cases since Jan. 30.
The number of deaths on the mainland rose by 97 to 1,113 by the end of Tuesday.
But doubts have been aired on social media about how reliable the figures are, after the government last week amended guidelines on the classification of cases.
‘STAY HOPEFUL’
The biggest cluster of cases outside China is aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off Japan’s port of Yokohama, with about 3,700 people on board. Japanese officials on Wednesday said 39 more people had tested positive for the virus, taking the total to 175.
One of the new cases was a quarantine officer.
Thailand said it was barring passengers from another cruise ship, MS Westerdam, from disembarking, the latest country to turn it away amid fears of the coronavirus, despite no confirmed infections on board.
“We try to stay hopeful,” American passenger Angela Jones told Reuters in a video recording. “But each day, that becomes a little bit more difficult, when country after country rejects us.”
Echoing the comparison with the fight against terrorism, China’s state news agency Xinhua said late on Tuesday the epidemic was a “battle that has no gunpowder smoke but must be won”.
The epidemic was a big test of China’s governance and capabilities and some officials were still “dropping the ball” in places where it was most severe, it said, adding: “This is a wake-up call.”
The government of Hubei, the central province at the outbreak’s epicentre, dismissed the provincial health commission’s Communist Party boss, state media said on Tuesday, amid mounting public anger over the crisis.
China’s censors had allowed criticism of local officials but have begun cracking down on reporting of the outbreak, issuing reprimands to tech firms that gave free rein to online speech, Chinese journalists said.
The pathogen has been named COVID-19 – CO for corona, VI for virus, D for disease and 19 for the year it emerged. It is suspected to have come from a market that illegally traded wildlife in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan in December.
The city of 11 million people remains under virtual lockdown as part of China’s unprecedented measures to seal infected regions and limit transmission routes.
Travel restrictions that have paralysed the world’s second-biggest economy have left Wuhan and other Chinese cities resembling ghost towns.
Even if the epidemic ends soon, it has taken a toll of China’s economy, with companies laying off workers and needing loans running into billions of dollars to stay afloat. Supply chains for makers of items from cars to smartphones have broken down.
ANZ Bank said China’s first-quarter growth would probably slow to 3.2% to 4.0%, down from a projection of 5.0%.
The likely slowdown in China could shave 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points off both euro zone and British growth this year, credit rating agency S&P Global estimated.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s smartphone sales may plunge by as much as 50% in the first quarter, as many retail shops have closed for an extended period and production has yet to fully resume due to the fast spread of a new coronavirus, according to research reports.
The virus outbreak, which has killed more than 900 people and roiled China’s manufacturing industry, comes as top smartphone vendors such as Huawei had hoped China’s 5G rollout plans this year would help the world’s biggest smartphone market rebound after years of falling sales.
“Vendors’ planned product launches will be canceled or delayed, given that large public events are not allowed in China,” research firm Canalys said in a note last week.
“It will take time for vendors to change their product launch roadmaps in China, which is likely to dampen 5G shipments.”
Canalys expects China’s smartphone shipments to halve in the first quarter from a year ago, while IDC, another research firm that tracks the tech sector, forecasts a 30% drop.
Apple Inc said last week it is extending its retail store closures in China and has yet to finalise opening dates, as Foxconn, which assembles iPhones, struggles to fully resume factories.
Foxconn received government approval on Monday to resume production at a plant in the city of Zhenghzou, but its major plant in Shenzhen remain unopened.
Huawei, China’s biggest smartphone vendor, said its manufacturing capacity is “running normally” without specifying further. But like many other local peers, Huawei relies heavily on third-party manufacturers for production.
If factories cannot resume production to full capacity on time, this could delay brands’ ability to bring their newest products to market, analysts said.
Xiaomi Corp, Huawei, and Oppo, three of China’s top Android brands, are all expected to announce flagship devices in the first half.
Oppo told Reuters that while the impact of the virus will affect operations at some local factories, “manufacturing capacity can be guaranteed effectively” thanks to its plants overseas.
Xiaomi did not respond to requests for comment.
“The delays in reopening factories and the labour return time will not only affect shipments to stores, it will also affect the product launch times in the mid- and long-term,” Will Wong, an IDC analyst, said.
Globally, smartphone production will decrease by 12% in the March quarter to a five-year low of 275 million units, research firm TrendForce said on Monday. It revised down iPhone production by 10% to 41 million units, while Huawei’s output forecast was cut by 15% to 42.5 million phones.
Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s top smartphone maker, is seen the least affected by the virus outbreak as its main production base is in Vietnam, the report said, lowering its production forecasts by just 3% to 71.5 million units.
Cathay Pacific is latest to wield axe, while Taiwan’s new restrictions on visitors from Hong Kong is another blow
More cancellations expected in the coming days as spread of deadly virus continues
The air industry in Hong Kong and beyond has been thrown into disarray by the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Reuters
Hundreds more Hong Kong flights are set to be dropped as the floodgates open on airlines cancelling services during the city’s fight against the coronavirus.
Carriers based in Asia, Australia, South Africa and Middle East revealed on Friday morning and the previous night they would cut all or some of their flights to the city.
Cathay Pacific is the latest to wield the axe, announcing on Friday afternoon new suspensions of major Hong Kong routes to London, New York and across mainland China because of the virus.
Flights running on the busy route between Hong Kong and Taiwan’s capital Taipei are subject to major cuts. Photo: Shutterstock
The contagion, which started in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 31,400 people, mostly in mainland China, killing more than 635. In Hong Kong, 24 people have been infected, one of those fatally, as of Friday afternoon.
Passengers abandoning travel plans en masse have been compounded by the introduction of entry restrictions across the world against recent visitors to mainland China, some targeting those who had been to Hong Kong.
Destinations suspended by Cathay Pacific until March 28 include London Gatwick, Rome, Washington DC, Newark, Male, Davao, Clark, Jeju and Taichung.
All mainland cities with the exception of Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xiamen would also be dropped over that period. The company said the decision was made “in view of the novel coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent drop in market demand”.
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It followed Cathay Pacific Group revealing earlier this week there would be a 30 per cent reduction of flights across its worldwide schedule, as well as a 90% cut of mainland flights.
Budget carrier HK Express, controlled by Cathay, said on Thursday it would scrap 82 flights between February 12 and March 26, mostly to destinations such as Seoul and Osaka.
Hong Kong Airlines (HKA) at the same time revealed it would gradually impose even deeper cuts to flights it operated in mainland China and the rest of Asia until March 28.
The ailing carrier will suspend 10 routes and reduce flights on a further 15, amounting to an estimated 128 flights a week being axed. HKA has already cut 214 mainland Chinese flights between January 30 until February 11.
As Taiwan’s new restrictions took effect on Friday – ordering the home or hotel quarantine of anyone entering the self-ruled island who had visited Hong Kong or Macau within the previous 14 days – carriers based there slashed their schedules.
China Airlines would go from running 18 daily Hong Kong flights to just two from next week until March 28, according to Airline Route data published on Thursday.
Eva Air would switch from more than 11 daily flights to fewer than four a day for the rest of the month.
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Eighty flights operate between Hong Kong and Taipei every week, a journey that regularly tops tables ranking the world’s busiest. But under the cuts to come more than half have already been scrapped.
Outside Asia, two airlines on Thursday cut ties with Hong Kong. The struggling Virgin Australia blamed the coronavirus and the anti-government protests that have gripped Hong Kong since June.
It concluded that “current circumstances demonstrate that Hong Kong is no longer a commercially viable route”.
The near-bankrupt South African Airways (SAA) has cancelled its route from Johannesburg amid a wholesale restructuring of the state-owned business. SAA had suspended flying to Hong Kong after November 21 last year amid the city’s civil unrest.
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7 Feb 2020
Meanwhile, American Airlines said on Thursday it would restart flights between Dallas Fort Worth and Hong Kong on February 21, while Hong Kong’s Airport Authority extended the cancellation of its Los Angeles flight to the city until March 27.
The US carrier warned its schedules were subject to an ongoing “review”. Currently there is no US carrier flying to Hong Kong International Airport after United Airlines also withdrew all services until February 20.
Among the Middle East carriers, Emirates was halving its four daily Airbus A380 flights to Hong Kong from next week until March 28. Etihad is also making minor adjustments, Airline Route data showed on Thursday.
News of his death was met with an intense outpouring of grief on Chinese social media site Weibo – but this quickly turned into anger.
There had already been accusations against the government of downplaying the severity of the virus – and initially trying to keep it secret.
Dr Li’s death has fuelled this further and triggered a conversation about the lack of freedom of speech in China.
The country’s anti-corruption body has now said it will open an investigation into “issues involving Dr Li”.
The Chinese government has previously admitted “shortcomings and deficiencies” in its response to the virus, which has now killed 636 people and infected 31,161 in mainland China.
According to Chinese site Pear Video, Dr Li’s wife is due to give birth in June.
What has the public reaction been?
Chinese social media has been flooded with anger – it is hard to recall an event in recent years that has triggered as much grief, rage and mistrust against the government.
The top two trending hashtags on the website were “Wuhan government owes Dr Li Wenliang an apology” and “We want freedom of speech”.
Both hashtags were quickly censored. When the BBC searched Weibo on Friday, hundreds of thousands of comments had been wiped. Only a handful remain.
“This is not the death of a whistleblower. This is the death of a hero,” said one comment on Weibo.
A photo circulating on Twitter reportedly sourced from messaging platform WeChat also shows a message in Chinese saying “Farewell Li Wenliang” written in the snow on a riverbank.
Many have now taken to posting under the hashtag “Can you manage, do you understand?” – a reference to the letter Dr Li was told to sign when he was accused of disturbing “social order”.
These comments do not directly name him – but are telling of the mounting anger and distrust towards the government.
Media caption Coronavirus: Shanghai’s deserted streets and metro
“Do not forget how you feel now. Do not forget this anger. We must not let this happen again,” said one comment on Weibo.
“The truth will always be treated as a rumour. How long are you going to lie? What else do you have to hide?” another said.
“If you are angry with what you see, stand up,” one said. “To the young people of this generation, the power of change is with you.”
An epic political disaster
The death of Dr Li Wenliang has been a heart-breaking moment for this country. For the Chinese leadership it is an epic political disaster.
It lays bare the worst aspects of China’s command and control system of governance under Xi Jinping – and the Communist Party would have to be blind not to see it.
If your response to a dangerous health emergency is for the police to harass a doctor trying to blow the whistle, then your structure is obviously broken.
The city’s mayor – reaching for excuses – said he needed clearance to release critical information which all Chinese people were entitled to receive.
Now the spin doctors and censors will try to find a way to convince 1.4 billion people that Dr Li’s death is not a clear example of the limits to the party’s ability to manage an emergency – when openness can save lives, and restricting it can kill.
He was initially declared dead at 21:30 on Thursday (13:30GMT) by state media outlets the Global Times, People’s Daily and others.
Hours later the Global Times contradicted this report – saying he had been given a treatment known as ECMO, which keeps a person’s heart pumping.
Journalists and doctors at the scene said government officials had intervened – and official media outlets had been told to change their reports to say the doctor was still being treated.
But early on Friday, reports said doctors could not save Dr Li and his time of death was 02:58 on Friday.
Image copyright LI WENLIANGImage caption Li Wenliang contracted the virus while working at Wuhan Central Hospital
What did Li Wenliang do?
Dr Li, an ophthalmologist, posted his story on Weibo from a hospital bed a month after sending out his initial warning.
He had noticed seven cases of a virus that he thought looked like Sars – the virus that led to a global epidemic in 2003.
On 30 December he sent a message to fellow doctors in a chat group warning them to wear protective clothing to avoid infection.
Four days later he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter.
In the letter he was accused of “making false comments” that had “severely disturbed the social order”. Local authorities later apologised to Dr Li.
In his Weibo post he describes how on 10 January he started coughing, the next day he had a fever and two days later he was in hospital. He was diagnosed with the coronavirus on 30 January.
Media caption The BBC’s online health editor on what we know about the virus
Singapore has raised its Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (Dorscon) level from yellow to orange. This means that the disease is deemed severe and spreads easily from person to person but has not spread widely and is being contained
Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his US counterpart Donald Trump that China is “fully confident and capable of defeating the epidemic”. The country has introduced more restrictive measures to try to control the outbreak:
The capital Beijing has banned group dining for events such as birthdays. Cities including Hangzhou and Nanchang are limiting how many family members can leave home each day
Hubei province has switched off lifts in high-rise buildings to discourage residents from going outside.
The virus has now spread to more than 25 countries. There have been more than 28,000 cases worldwide but only two of the deaths have been outside mainland China.
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Friday said production at all of its China plants would remain suspended through Feb. 16, joining a growing number of automakers facing stoppages due to supply chain issues as the coronavirus spreads.
The Japanese automaker, which operates 12 vehicle and components factories in China, said it would extend its production stoppage “after considering various factors, including guidelines from local and region governments, parts supply, and logistics.
“For the week of Feb. 10, we will be preparing for the return to normal operation from Feb. 17 and beyond,” it said in a statement.
The decision extends Toyota’s initial plans to suspend operations through Sunday, and comes as the threat from the coronavirus crisis closes in on the global auto industry.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) and affiliate Kia Motors (000270.KS) said on Friday that they plan to restart production at their Chinese factories on Feb. 17, from a previously planned Feb.9.
“We will take preventive measures against infection at factories,” a spokeswoman said.
A growing number of car makers, including those who do not make cars in China, are flagging the possibility that their global operations could take a hit if they cannot access parts supplies from the country, where there are transportation bans to stop the virus spreading.
Suzuki Motor Corp said it was looking at the possibility of procuring “made in China” car parts from other regions if it cannot access parts due to ongoing stoppages.
The Japanese automaker does not produce or sell any cars in China, but procures some components there for its plants in India, where it controls around half of the passenger vehicle market via its local unit Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MRTI.NS).
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCHA.MI) on Thursday said one of its European plants could close within two to four weeks if Chinese parts suppliers cannot get back to work soon, while Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) earlier this week suspended production at its South Korean plants due to a shortage of China-made parts.
Parts made in China are used in millions of vehicles assembled elsewhere, and China’s Hubei province – the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak – is a major hub for vehicle parts production and shipments.
To limit the spread of the virus, Chinese authorities have announced an extended holiday period in Hubei and 10 other provinces, which account for more than two-thirds of the country’s vehicle production.
IHS Automotive projects plant closures through Feb. 10 would result in a 7% cut in vehicle production in China for the first quarter.
In a note, its analysts said extended closures into March may result in lost production of over 1.7 million vehicles for the period, a decline of roughly one-third of pre-virus output expectations.
“If the situation lingers into mid-March, and plants in adjacent provinces are also idled, the China-wide supply chain disruption caused by parts shortages from Hubei, a major component hub, could have a wide-reaching impact,” they said.
Other industry experts said suppliers had built up a cushion of parts in inventory and in-transit ahead of the long Lunar New Year holiday in late January. Those will start to run out if factories cannot get back to work next week, or if flights to and from China remain limited.
Toyota said its plants outside China were operating as normal for the moment but it has said it was also considering the possibility of manufacturing parts commonly made in China in other regions.
Some residents of the coastal Chinese province are being locked inside their homes while others must present a ‘passport’ to go out every two days for supplies
Weddings and funerals discouraged as ‘unessential’ venues are also shut down
Cured coronavirus patients leave hospital in Hangzhou, one of four cities in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang which has adopted draconian quarantine measures for its residents. Photo: Xinhua
In the Chinese coastal province of Zhejiang, some 560km (350 miles) east of where the new coronavirus originated, at least four cities have introduced measures that mirror the draconian rules established by Hubei province – epicentre of the outbreak – to keep the virus from spreading.
Authorities in Zhejiang, which neighbours the port city of Shanghai, have closed “unessential” public venues, banned funerals and weddings, limited the number of times people can go out and quarantined families at home, sometimes by locking them in.
In the Zhejiang cities of Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Taizhou – which have a combined population of more than 30 million – each household is being issued a “passport”, usually a piece of paper that carries one’s name, home address and an official stamp. Only one person per household is permitted to leave their home every two days.
The rules were announced on state media and the governments’ social media accounts, and families have already received their “passports”.
Some people have been locked inside their homes, including Allen Li and his family in Hangzhou. Photo: Handout
To enforce the new travel rules, community officers have been stationed at the entrance of some residential compounds. Every time a resident leaves their compound, an officer at the entrance marks the time and date on the “passport”. People from the same household are then barred from going out again for the next two days.
With 954 coronavirus patients, the province of Zhejiang is the hardest hit region outside Hubei, which has about 19,665 of the more than 28,000 total cases.
Hangzhou, the provincial capital and home to some of China’s biggest tech companies, has reported 151 confirmed cases. The port city of Wenzhou has reported 396 cases.
Yao Gaoyuan, mayor of Wenzhou, said in an interview with CCTV on February 2 that the city had decided to impose the restrictions to contain the spread the coronavirus. “This could reduce the transmission to the greatest extent possible,” he said.
One neighbourhood in Wenzhou introduced a mobile technology system to enforce the stay-at-home rules, according to the state-run Wenzhou Daily, with residents using their phones to scan a QR code at the checkpoints every time they leave the compound. Only those who have not been out for two days will be allowed through.
In Hangzhou, the government on Tuesday banned all weddings and demanded that funerals, which traditionally involve family gatherings and banquets, be held frugally.
All public venues deemed “unessential” were ordered to close. Underground train services are running at 30-minute intervals. Factories need special permission to resume work during the extended Lunar New Year holiday.
Some families have also been confined to their homes because they have travelled to places with large numbers of confirmed cases.
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Allen Li, 26, who is now living with his parents in Hangzhou, said the family had been told to stay home for 14 days after they returned from Wenzhou.
Community workers put up a sign saying “quarantined at home, no visitors allowed” on their door. On Wednesday, they locked the flat with a metal chain from the outside despite the family’s protest.
“We argued with them, but they said it’s a decision from above,” Li said. “We understand we should not go out. But this is not humane. What if there’s a fire at our home at midnight, and we can’t get anyone to unlock it?”
China scrambles to deliver food to coronavirus epicentre Wuhan amid lockdown
Some social media users have applauded such measures as ways to contain the virus, but others have criticised the quarantine as essentially “house arrest”.
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Some Hangzhou residents have complained online that they were barred from entering their rented homes after having spent the Lunar New Year holiday elsewhere.
The coronavirus was first reported in December in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei that has been sealed off since January 23.
In a sign of the rising fear of contagion, regional authorities across China have imposed travel restrictions on residents that mirror the draconian measures in Hubei province.
But officials said about 5 million people had already travelled out of the city during the Lunar New Year travel season, contributing to the spread of the virus to other Chinese provinces and at least 24 countries.
Image copyright AFP
Image copyright LI WENLIANG
Image copyright AFP
Image copyright AFP
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