31/05/2020
BEIJING (Reuters) – China announced on Sunday two new confirmed cases of coronavirus and four new asymptomatic cases, including one person without symptoms of COVID-19 on a chartered flight from Germany.
The two confirmed cases in Shandong province on Saturday compared with four cases the day before, data from the country’s health authority showed.
The National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed three new asymptomatic cases on Saturday.
On Sunday, the Chinese city of Tianjin confirmed one asymptomatic person, a passenger arriving from Frankfurt on a chartered Lufthansa flight, LH342, to Tianjin. This case was discovered between midnight and 6 a.m. local time on Sunday, the city’s daily statements show.
These charter flights are part of an accelerated entry procedure offered by Beijing as China and Germany seek to reignite their economies after months of lockdown. The flight to Tianjin carried about 200 passengers, mostly German business executives.
Lufthansa has another charter flight scheduled for Shanghai on Wednesday.
A 34-year-old German engineer tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving in Tianjin but he does not have any symptoms, the Tianjin government said on its official social media platform Weibo.
The asymptomatic patient has been transferred to a local hospital to be placed under medical observation, the Tianjin government said, adding that the whole process was a “closed loop”, meaning posing no great risk to the Chinese public.
Source: Reuters
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13/04/2020
SUIFENHE, China (Reuters) – China’s northeastern border with Russia has become a frontline in the fight against a resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic as new daily cases rose to the highest in nearly six weeks – with more than 90% involving people coming from abroad.
Having largely stamped out domestic transmission of the disease, China has been slowly easing curbs on movement as it tries to get its economy back on track, but there are fears that a rise in imported cases could spark a second wave of COVID-19.
A total of 108 new coronavirus cases were reported in mainland China on Sunday, up from 99 a day earlier, marking the highest daily tally since March 5.
Imported cases accounted for a record 98. Half involved Chinese nationals returning from Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District, home to the city of Vladivostok, who re-entered China through border crossings in Heilongjiang province.
“Our little town here, we thought it was the safest place,” said a resident of the border city of Suifenhe, who only gave his surname as Zhu.
“Some Chinese citizens – they want to come back, but it’s not very sensible, what are you doing coming here for?”
The border is closed, except to Chinese nationals, and the land route through the city had become one of few options available for people trying to return home after Russia stopped flights to China except for those evacuating people.
Streets in Suifenhe were virtually empty on Sunday evening due to restrictions of movement and gatherings announced last week, when authorities took preventative measures similar to those imposed in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the pandemic ripping round the world first emerged late last year.
The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China now stands at 82,160 as of Sunday, and at the peak of the first wave of the epidemic on Feb 12 there were over 15,000 new cases.
Though the number of daily infections across China has dropped sharply from that peak, China has seen the daily toll creep higher after hitting a trough on March 12 because of the rise in imported cases.
Chinese cities near the Russian frontier are tightening border controls and imposing stricter quarantines in response.
Suifenhe and Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, are now mandating 28 days of quarantine as well as nucleic acid and antibody tests for all arrivals from abroad.
In Shanghai, authorities found that 60 people who arrived on Aeroflot flight SU208 from Moscow on April 10 have the coronavirus, Zheng Jin, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, told a press conference on Monday.
Residents in Suifenhe said a lot of people had left the city fearing contagion, but others put their trust in authorities’ containment measures.
“I don’t need to worry,” Zhao Wei, another Suifenhe resident, told Reuters. “If there’s a local transmission, I would, but there’s not a single one. They’re all from the border, but they’ve all been sent to quarantine.”
Source: Reuters
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09/12/2019
- Couple received bad news as the Hainan Airlines plane was taxiing but returned to departure gate so they could get off
The Hainan Airlines flight returned to the departure gate to let the couple off. Photo: Reuters
A Chinese plane turned round on the runway after a couple on board suffered a sudden bereavement.
The Hainan Airlines flight was due to fly from Hangzhou to Sanya on Sunday when the passengers asked to be let off so they could make alternative travel plans.
“The flight was due to take off on time, all preparations had been made. The plane was already taxiing,” one unnamed passenger told Pear Video.
“The air stewardess immediately comforted the elderly couple, told them not to worry and said that she had already contacted the captain … then an in-flight announcement was made so that everyone could understand the situation.”
“[W]e were moments before take-off. Someone suddenly said their relative had passed away and wanted to get off the plane,” the passenger wrote on social media in a post shared by Pear Video.
Chinese woman opens plane’s emergency exit for some fresh air, delaying flight
“Cabin crew contacted the captain and we are now returning to the departure terminal. I can only say that the deceased must have been important.”
The plane returned to the departure gate, where the elderly couple got off and made other travel arrangements. The flight was able to continue after a 50-minute delay.
An unnamed flight attendant told video news outlet Kankan News that they often encountered unexpected situations during flights, and that everyone was able to understand Sunday’s situation.
However, some social media users were not so sympathetic.
“I want to know, did they get the consent of all the passengers before the plane was turned around? If not, then I feel like the flight should take off at the scheduled time … otherwise people might think that these elderly passengers pulled some strings behind the scenes with the cabin crew,” wrote one user on Weibo.
Source: SCMP
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30/09/2019
- Three films that opened on Monday morning rake in US$76.6 million by midday
- Palme d’Or winner Chen Kaige heads bill with ensemble that has movie-goers in tears
My People, My Country looks at seven events in the past 70 years through the eyes of seven Chinese directors. Photo: Baidu
Three films that paid tribute to the People’s Republic of China on the eve of its 70th anniversary grossed a total of 546 million yuan (US$76.6 million) at the box offices hours after opening on Monday, Maoyan Entertainment, China’s largest movie ticketing app, said.
My People, My Country, consisting of seven short stories by seven directors led by Cannes Palme d’Or winner Chen Kaige, recounted major events since 1949. It took in 225 million yuan.
Milestones including the detonation of China’s atomic bomb in 1964; the handover of Hong Kong from the UK to China in 1997, and the staging of the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008, brought back many memories and stirred feelings of national pride, film-goers said.
“I went to see the movie today and saw many primary school students with their parents. Tears welled in my eyes, and I felt touched and proud at the same time. Go China!” one Weibo user wrote.
True-life drama The Captain has proved to a big screen hit with mainland cinema-goers. Photo: Baidu
“This movie used directors of commercial movies, and most of those born in the 1960s and 1970s lived through these moments. I think young people will bring their parents to see the film,” another Weibo user wrote.
True-life drama The Captain, directed by Hong Kong director Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, ran in second with a box office take of 175 million yuan by noon on Monday. The film was based on events in May 2018, when the cockpit window of a Sichuan Airlines flight was shattered at 30,000 feet over the Tibetan Plateau in western China. The decompression pulled the co-pilot halfway out of the cabin as the pilot fought to land the flight safely.
Big-budget film The Climbers, directed by Hong Kong’s Daniel Lee Yan-Kong and featuring stars such as Wu Jing and Zhang Ziyi, retraced the steps of two generations of Chinese mountaineers who scaled Mount Everest by the perilous North Ridge in 1960 and 1975. The film posted earnings of 146 million yuan.
Tencent’s homage to modern China tops gaming charts on eve of 70th anniversary celebrations
Patriotic feelings have been running high this week as the celebration of the 70th anniversary draws near.
My People, My Country’s theme song, Me and My Mother Country, an oldie recorded by Hong Kong’s Faye Wang, has been heard in shops, restaurants and workplaces all across the mainland.
The Climbers was directed by Hong Kong’s Daniel Lee Yan-Kong. Photo: Baidu
Last week, 200 million WeChat users responded to a campaign by internet company Tencent to add a national flag or Happy National Day sticker to their social media profile picture, The Beijing News reported. Demand was so heavy Tencent’s servers were overwhelmed for a short time.
Source: SCMP
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20/09/2019
- Superstitious medical student, 23, said it was customary in her hometown to throw money for good luck
- Cousin’s child had fallen ill on flight from Jiangxi to Sichuan, she said
A woman was fined for tossing coins onto the apron at an airport in Sichuan province. Photo: Weibo
A woman who
threw coins onto the parking apron at an airport in southwest China in the superstitious belief it might cure her cousin’s baby’s diarrhoea was instead fined 200 yuan (US$28), local media reported.
The incident happened on September 5, as the woman, surnamed Wang, and a group of her relatives arrived in Xichang, Sichuan province, after flying from Nanchang, Jiangxi province, to attend a family wedding, the Chengdu Business News reported on Friday.
Wang, 23, dropped the coins through the gap between the aircraft and the jet bridge as she and her family were disembarking.
Police said the medical student was shocked when she realised the trouble she had caused. Photo: Weibo
Although no one spotted what she had done at the time, airport workers later found three coins on the ground while conducting a security check and reported the matter to the police.
Officers reviewed footage from the airport’s surveillance cameras and identified Wang as the guilty party and went to see her at her hotel the following morning, the report said.
Wang said that during the flight her cousin’s baby had suffered from diarrhoea and that it was customary in her hometown to toss coins in the hope it would bring the child good luck.
“She said she didn’t realise her action could have had a very serious outcome,” a police officer was quoted as saying, adding that Wang appeared shocked when she realised the trouble she had caused.
However, as her actions had not resulted in any delays to flights or created any other problems, she was charged only with a minor offence.
Many Chinese think tossing coins before a flight will bring them good luck. Photo: EPA
Wang, who recently completed a bachelor’s degree in medicine and was preparing to sit a graduate school entrance examination, was worried the incident might have an impact on her future education and job prospects, the officer said.
More than 5,000 people commented on the story on news portal 163.com, with one asking: “You are so superstitious, how can you treat patients?”
In recent years there have been numerous reports of Chinese travellers causing delays and being punished for tossing coins onto airport runways and even into aircraft engines.
In April, a woman was detained for throwing six coins as she was about to board a plane in southern China in the hope it would guarantee her a safe trip.
Source: SCMP
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