31/03/2020
- The team is expected to provide technical advice on epidemic prevention and control as well as treatment protocols
- The Southeast Asian nation on Tuesday recorded its largest daily increase in coronavirus deaths and infections
A fireman sprays disinfectant from the back of a fire truck to help curb the spread of the coronavirus during a localised quarantine in Manila. Photo: AP
on Tuesday recorded its largest daily increase in coronavirus deaths and infections, as it awaited the arrival of a Chinese medical team to support its embattled frontline health care workers.
Ten more people died from the Covid-19 disease, bringing the total to 88, while 538 new infections were reported for a total of 2,084.
Among those included in the latest count of positives is former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, whose condition, according to his spokesman Victor Rodriguez, is now “stable” and “improving”.
Health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the ministry had opened new labs and run more than 15,000 tests, a five-fold jump from about 3,000 last week. She added that more hospitals were seeking government approval to function as testing centres.
Medical evacuation plane crashes at Manila airport in Philippines, killing eight on board
“We have six more laboratories to conduct tests,” Vergeire said. “We are also conducting contact tracing to find possibly infected persons.”
Philippine hospitals are struggling with a shortage of protective gear, manpower and testing capacity, as are medical facilities around the world. At least 13 doctors have died as of Tuesday and the Philippine Medical Association estimates that over 5 per cent of health workers are currently under quarantine due to Covid-19.
Police personnel in Manila hold up placards reminding people to stay at home. Photo: AFP
The country’s ambassador to China, Chito Sta Romana, confirmed a statement by the Chinese embassy in Manila that Beijing would send an expert team to the Philippines to provide technical advice on epidemic prevention and control as well as treatment protocols.
Sta Romana said the team was made of up of “experienced doctors and public health officials who specialise in infectious diseases”, but could not say when they would arrive.
An infectious disease doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Chinese medical team would only give advice.
Coronavirus: in Philippines, leak shows politicians and relatives received ‘VIP’ testing
“There was an offer to see patients but it was rebuffed because of local laws on practice,” he said, referring to a law that bans foreign doctors from practising medicine in the Southeast Asian nation.
Philippine foreign secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr on Saturday tweeted that the Department of Health was “blocking their arrival”. His tweet, now deleted, had said “Don’t piss me off. Let them in.”
Health secretary Francisco Duque told local media that Locsin took down his tweet after hearing that the department was preparing hotel accommodation and translators for the expert team.
According to an ethnic Chinese businessman who is a member of a foundation involved in the visit, the team was supposed to have arrived on March 27. It will comprise doctors, nurses and researchers from hospitals and disease prevention agencies in Fujian province who specialise in areas such as infectious diseases, emergency medicine and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine.
An estimated 1.2 million ethnic Chinese call the Philippines – which has a population of 107 million people – home, with many tracing their ancestry to Fujian province.
The businessman, who declined to be named, showed This Week in Asia a screenshot of the team’s name list, which included an official from Fujian province’s United Work Front Department, the controversial Communist Party department responsible for promoting its influence around the world.
Beijing has dispatched teams of medical experts to countries struggling with a surge in Covid-19 cases, including Iran and Italy, and has also donated testing kits and other medical supplies.
The Philippine health department apologised over the weekend for comments made by undersecretary Vergeire that some of the kits donated by China had yielded only “40 per cent accuracy” and could not be used.
The Chinese embassy in Manila had rejected the suggestions, and shared a mobile text message supposedly from Duque to Ambassador Huang Xilian that thanked the Chinese government for the test kits.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte addresses the nation during a live broadcast on March 30. Photo: AP
Vergeire also issued a correction to her earlier statement, and said she was referring to “another brand” of test kits from China that a private foundation was going to donate.
Political risk analyst Ramon Casiple, who chairs the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms, said at this point in the Philippines’ coronavirus fight “any help is welcome”.
He said he did not expect any negative political backlash towards the Chinese experts, even though on social media Filipinos have continued to blame China for failing to contain the outbreak in Hubei province, where cases first emerged.
Coronavirus: Philippines’ Luzon lockdown hits domestic helper agencies in Singapore
The Philippines has locked down its main island of Luzon – where about a third of the population lives, and where 70 per cent of economic activity takes place – for the past two weeks, resulting in supply chain disruptions and millions of poor families losing any source of income.
’s critics have questioned what he has done with emergency powers granted to him that came bundled with a 275 billion peso (US$5.4 billion) emergency fund. A report showed that Duterte, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development, had managed to deliver emergency food aid to only 4,753 of the 18 million targeted families.
On Tuesday, finance secretary Carlos Dominguez said the government was planning a stimulus package to help companies and the poorest households.
“This planned stimulus package is already being crafted and will be responsive to the uncertainties of the situation,” Dominguez said in a statement, without elaborating. “At this point, nobody knows how bad this pandemic will get or how long it will last.”
Senate defence committee chair Panfilo Lacson warned that some people “are eating corn fungus to stave off hunger” and “if the executive does not act with dispatch, we may have a serious social problem to face”.
Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison agreed with Lacson but added, “it is therefore just for the broad masses of the people to be outraged and demand collective action against Duterte, his servant generals and the Department of Health because of their incompetence, corruption and stupidity.”
However, Senate President Vicente Sotto urged the public to “cut [Duterte] some slack”.
Source: SCMP
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30/03/2020
WUHAN, China (Reuters) – China reported a drop in new coronavirus infections for a fourth day as drastic curbs on international travellers reined in the number of imported cases, while policymakers turned their efforts to healing the world’s second-largest economy.
The city of Wuhan, at the centre of the outbreak, reported no new cases for a sixth day, as businesses reopened and residents set about reclaiming a more normal life after a lockdown for almost two months.
Smartly turned out staff waited in masks and gloves to greet customers at entrances to the newly-reopened Wuhan International Plaza, home to boutiques of luxury brands such as Cartier and Louis Vuitton.
“The Wuhan International Plaza is very representative (of the city),” said Zhang Yu, 29. “So its reopening really makes me feel this city is coming back to life.”
Sunday’s figure of 31 new cases, including one locally transmitted infection, was down from 45 the previous day, the National Health Commission said.
As infections fall, policymakers are scrambling to revitalise an economy nearly paralysed by months-long curbs to control the spread of the flu-like disease.
On Monday, the central bank unexpectedly cut the interest rate on reverse repurchase agreements by 20 basis points, the largest in nearly five years.
The government is pushing businesses and factories to reopen, as it rolls out fiscal and monetary stimulus to spur recovery from what is feared to be an outright economic contraction in the quarter to March.
China’s exports and imports could worsen as the pandemic spreads, depressing demand both at home and abroad, Xin Guobin, the vice minister of industry and information technology, said on Monday.
The country has extended loans of 200 billion yuan (22.75 billion pounds) to 5,000 businesses, from 300 billion allocated to help companies as they resume work, Xin said.
Authorities in Ningbo said they would encourage national banks to offer preferential credit of up to 100 billion yuan to the eastern port city’s larger export firms. The city government will subsidize such loans, it said in a notice.
VIRUS CONCERNS
While new infections have fallen sharply from February’s peak, authorities worry about a second wave triggered by returning Chinese, many of them students.
China cut international flights massively from Sunday for an indefinite period, after it began denying entry to almost all foreigners a day earlier.
Average daily arrivals at airports this week are expected to be about 4,000, down from 25,000 last week, an official of the Civil Aviation Administration of China told a news conference in Beijing on Monday.
The return to work has also prompted concern about potential domestic infections, especially over carriers who exhibit no, or very mild, symptoms of the highly contagious virus.
Northwestern Gansu province reported a new case of a traveller from the central province of Hubei, who drove back with a virus-free health code, national health authorities said.
Hubei authorities say 4.6 million people in the province returned to work by Saturday, with 2.8 million of them heading for other parts of China.
Most of the departing migrant workers went to the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, the eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu, and northeast China.
In Hubei’s capital of Wuhan, more retail complexes and shopping streets reopened.
Electric carmaker Tesla Inc has also reopened a showroom in Wuhan, a company executive said on Weibo.
Shoppers queued 1-1/2 metres (5 ft) apart for temperature checks at Wuhan International Plaza, while flashing “green” mobile telephone codes attesting to a clean bill of health.
To be cleared to resume work, Wuhan residents have been asked to take nucleic acid tests twice.
“Being able to be healthy and leave the house, and meet other colleagues who are also healthy is a very happy thing,” said Wang Xueman, a cosmetics sales representative.
Source: Reuters
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28/03/2020
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s authorities plan stronger steps to revive an economy hit by the spread of coronavirus, as the nation on Saturday reported no new locally transmitted infections for the previous day.
The ruling Communist Party’s Politburo said on Friday it would step up macroeconomic policy adjustments and pursue more proactive fiscal policy, state media reported. With the world’s second-biggest economy expected to shrink for the first time in four decades this quarter, China is set to unleash hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus.
The Politburo called for expanding the budget deficit, issuing more local and national bonds, guiding interest rates lower, delaying loan repayments, reducing supply-chain bottlenecks and boosting consumption.
“We expect government ministries to roll out more tangible measures in the coming weeks as this Politburo meeting gave them no choice but to do more,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note.
The Politburo did not elaborate on plans for the central government to issue special treasury bonds, which would be the first such issuance since 2007.
Restrictions on foreigners entering the country went into effect on Saturday, as China reported no new locally transmitted infections and a small drop in so-called imported cases.
Airlines have been ordered to sharply cut international flights from Sunday.
Beijing has in recent days emphasised the risk posed by imported virus cases after widespread lockdowns within China helped to sharply reduce domestic transmissions. The Politburo said it would shift its focus to prevent more imported cases and a rebound in locally transmitted infections.
“We must be extremely vigilant and cautious, and we must prevent the post-epidemic relaxation from coming too soon, leading to the loss of all our achievements,” the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper said in a front-page editorial.
The authorities also reversed planned reopenings of movie theatres, the state-owned China Securities Journal reported, citing sources.
DEATH TOLL AT 3,295
China’s National Health Commission said on Saturday that 54 new coronavirus cases were reported on the mainland on Friday, all imported cases. There were 55 new cases a day earlier, one of which was transmitted locally.
The number of infections for mainland China stands at 81,394, with the death toll rising by three to 3,295, the commission said.
Hubei province reported no new cases, and three new deaths. The province of 60 million, where the virus was first detected, has recorded 67,801 coronavirus cases and 3,177 deaths.
Shanghai reported the highest number of new cases, with 17. An additional 11 cases were reported in Guangdong, six in Fujian, five in Tianjin, four in Zhejiang, three each in Beijing and Liaoning, two each in Inner Mongolia and Jilin, and one in Shandong.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday that China would support U.S. efforts to fight the coronavirus.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States rose by at least 16,000 on Friday to nearly 102,000, the most of any country.
George Gao, the director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, urged people to wear masks to control the virus’s spread overseas.
Gao told the journal Science in an interview published late on Friday that the “big mistake in the United States and Europe has been the failure to wear masks, which “can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others.”
Source: Reuters
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12/03/2020
- China is now making more than 100 million masks a day, up from 20 million before the coronavirus outbreak, and may start to export more to other countries
- Mask shortages elsewhere once more raise the debate about an over-reliance on China, with critics pointing to a lack of US industrial policy
China was producing 116 million masks per day of February 29, including a mix of disposable and high-end masks like the American-designed N95 model worn by President Xi Jinping on his trip on Tuesday to Wuhan. Photo: Xinhua
The Liu family factory has been making diapers and baby products in the Chinese city of Quanzhou for over 10 years, but in February, for the first time, it started making face masks, as demand soared spectacularly due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The business – which employs 100 people in the Southeastern Fujian province – has added two production lines to make up to 200,000
masks a day.
And while the decision was primarily commercial, “encouragement” from the Chinese government – in the form of subsidies, lower taxes, interest-free loans, fast-track approvals for expansion and help alleviating labour shortages – made the decision an obvious one, said Mr Liu who preferred only to give his family name.
“The government is advocating an expansion in production,” Liu said. “With faster approvals, producers need to prioritise the government’s needs over exports.”
WHO declares coronavirus crisis a pandemic
The factory is one of thousands of refitted pop-ups around China making masks and other protective equipment for the first time, part of a massive industrial drive to respond to the spread of the coronavirus.
Before the outbreak, China already made about half the world’s supply of masks, at a rate of 20 million units a day. That rose to 116 million as of February 29, according to China’s state planning agency, a mix of disposable and high-end masks like the American-designed N95 model worn by President Xi Jinping on his trip on Tuesday to Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
This exponential jump is the result of a wartime-like shift in industrial policy, with Beijing directing its powerful state-owned enterprises to lead the nationwide mask-making effort, and the country’s sprawling manufacturing engine following their lead.
For me, this is the big advantage of China, the speed Thomas Schmitz
“For me, this is the big advantage of China, the speed,” said Thomas Schmitz, president of the China branch of Austrian engineering giant Andritz, which has seen a big uptick in demand for its wet wipe-making machines in recent weeks, also due to the virus. “When you need to run, people know how to run, and this is something which has been lost in other countries since their industrial heydays.”
Chinese oil and gas major Sinopec upped production of mask raw materials such as polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride in January. This week, it set up two production lines in Beijing to produce melt-blown non-woven fabric, intended to make four tonnes of the fabric each day, which can then be used to produce 1.2 million N95 respirators or six million surgical masks a day.
The maker of China’s new J-20 stealth fighter jet, Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, repurposed part of its factory to design a mask production line, according to local media reports. The Sichuan Daily said 258 of the company’s engineers spent three days fast-tracking development of an assembly line with more than 1,200 components.
Coronavirus: From mysterious origins to a global threat
More than 2,500 companies in China have reportedly started making masks, among them 700 technology companies including iPhone assembler Foxconn and smartphone makers Xiaomi and Oppo, in an extraordinary mobilisation of resources.
The result resembles “the war effort” in the middle of the last century in the United States and western Europe, but arguably no other nation could undergo such a transformation so quickly today.
It is a reminder of what can happen in a centrally-planned economy with a strong manufacturing base, but also brings into sharp focus some of the geopolitical issues which have characterised China’s at-times difficult relationship with the rest of the world, particularly the European Union and US, over the past couple of years.
China’s dominance in manufacturing has become all the more evident as the rest of the world scrambles to shore up their own dwindling medical supplies, leading many to wonder why the world is so dependent on it for vital supplies.
The lesson for Washington is not that we need to emulate the Chinese economic model, but rather that we need to better steward the industrial base in key sectors Rush Doshi
The Italian government, which is dealing with the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths after China, is to take shipment of 1,000 ventilators, 2 million masks, 100,000 respirators, 200,000 protective suits and 50,000 testing kits from China.
Italian foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said after a phone call with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, they had agreed the
export deal in the same week that European neighbours France and Germany banned masks from being exported because of low domestic supplies.
The Italy export deal showed that “China is emerging as a global public goods provider as the US proves unable and unwilling to lead,” said Rush Doshi, the director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Washington-based Brookings Institute think tank.
“China’s ability to produce what is needed to fight coronavirus is not simply a product of its economic model – it’s also a product of its industrial capacity,” Doshi said. “The US once had this capacity too, but it has lost important parts of it. The lesson for Washington is not that we need to emulate the Chinese economic model, but rather that we need to better steward the industrial base in key sectors.”
The frustration is felt acutely by Michael Einhorn, president of medical equipment distributor Dealmed-Park Surgical in New York, who has been trying to source stock from China for weeks, “but cannot get straight answers” from vendors.
Unaware that Wuhan was still under heavy
economic lockdown, Einhorn said he placed an order with a private seller in China’s virus-stricken city last week, but that the goods had not been shipped.
“Everyone is running out here, people are panicking in hospitals and we want to be able to help our most important customers,” Einhorn said. “We are dealing with hospitals that do not have products, how in the United States of America in 2020 did this happen?”
With the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China falling daily, it is not inconceivable that the sort of export deal struck with Italian leaders becomes commonplace, although for now, it deal can be chalked up as a significant public relations coup for Beijing.
The World Medical Association is unable to specify how many masks are required to supply frontline medical staff in virus-hit areas, but said that “this crisis should be a wake up call for politicians and societies to make the necessary investment in emergency preparedness and to look into the vulnerability of our supply chains”.
Australian-listed manufacturer Eagle Health announced on Friday that it had installed production lines at its Xiamen factory in southern China to make 300 million masks a year and said it had already received orders from China and would be securing further larger orders internationally.
The group, which normally makes products including amino acids, protein supplements and lozenges in China, said it would prioritise meeting the large domestic demand, but was aware of an impending global shortage.
Eagle Health has already commenced production of its first order of 3.2 million medical masks for the Yiling Hospital Management Group in China, a process which will take 10 days. It has other smaller orders from Chinese government agencies and expects to receive more orders outside China.
The decision to make more masks came from increased demand. These are opportunities. The global demand for high quality masks will be significant Xu Gang
“The decision to make more masks came from increased demand. These are opportunities,” said chief executive Xu Gang. “The global demand for high quality masks will be significant. Imagine when the schools open. The situation will take some time to peak.”
Last week, the Australian Dental Association said supplies of masks at many practices were expected to run out within four weeks. The Australian government has since arranged a supply of 54 million masks for both the dental and medical industries.
At the same time, the US only has 1 per cent of the 3.5 billion masks it would need to counter a serious outbreak, Bloomberg reported.
While China has no quota on the volume of masks that had to be hived off for local consumption, the government has said domestic demand needs to be prioritised.
Businesses are free to export but overseas demand has yet to explode like it has in China, said Fujian factory owner Liu.
Wendy Min, sales director of Pluscare, a manufacturer based near the virus’ epicentre in Hubei province, said her company is making 200,000 masks per day, much of which are sold to the government, with exports still restricted by partial lockdown of workers and cargo transport.
“We previously exported to Europe, South America and other parts of Asia,” Min said. “But at the moment we can’t export. We are trying to discuss this with the government, but we cannot wait any more – we have to export soon.”
Min said that while she was receiving countless cold calls up until last week from people in China looking for masks, these have stopped, perhaps unsurprising given the abundance in supplies becoming available.
An influx of Chinese-made masks, though, is likely to be welcomed in other virus-stricken parts of the world.
Self-quarantine of all international travellers to Beijing as China fights import of coronavirus
Miguel Luiz Gricheno, CEO of Brazilian mask manufacturer Destra, said that his company is making 30,000 masks a day, but cannot meet local demand due to a lack of supplies, including the non-woven fabric from which masks are made.
“In disposable masks, most Brazilian companies are paralysed due to the lack of raw materials,” Gricheno said. “With the arrival of the coronavirus in Brazil, the demand has increased a lot but the main raw material comes from abroad.”
However, a short-term supply fix will not answer underlying questions about how so many countries found themselves in such dire straits, meaning the geopolitical fallout of the coronavirus will be extensive.
Decades of weak industrial policy helped elect US President Donald Trump, who said he would bring manufacturing jobs back to America at China’s expense. While he has waged a bruising two-year trade war with China in response, the current situation shows just how difficult it will be to change the global manufacturing processes, which are so heavily controlled by China.
One of the great flaws of globalisation is that everyone wanted things cheaper, but did you compromise your health care infrastructure in the process? Stephen Roach
“In the guise of trying to improve efficiency and create value for price-sensitive consumers, we’ve created a global production network that is very difficult to unwind,” said Stephen Roach, a professor of economics at Yale University and a veteran China watcher. “One of the great flaws of globalisation is that everyone wanted things cheaper, but did you compromise your health care infrastructure in the process.
Reuters reported that Trump is considering invoking the emergency provisions of the Defence Production Act, which would allow the government to instruct companies to alter production to help address the domestic shortage of medical supplies like masks. If a company is producing 20 per cent N95 masks and 80 per cent standard masks, the White House could order them to rejig the ratio, an unnamed official said.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the White House is preparing an executive order that would allow the government to buy medical supplies from overseas in the hope that it will incentivise companies to make them within the US.
But these changes still do not give Trump the sort of sweeping powers enjoyed by Chinese counterpart Xi.
“When you have a pluralistic, democratic situation that Trump is overseeing, it becomes more unwieldy” to take the steps necessary to address a crisis situation, said Harry Broadman, chair of the emerging markets practise at the Berkeley Research Group and a senior US government official in the 1980s and 1990s.
“That is why I think Trump looks at Xi with envy, because he doesn’t have to deal with a disparity of views or democratic interests,” Broadman said. “I think Trump is at heart a bilateral guy, as you saw with the phase one [US-China] trade deal and the state-to-state purchases. That is why he likes dealing with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Xi, because each of them can move mountains. I think Trump is very envious of that ability.”
Source: SCMP
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01/03/2020
- Materials can bought cheaply online and combined to filter out germs, while people exchange tips in online chat groups
- Urgent demand has forced individuals and hospitals alike to get to work to meet the shortfall
A worker in northern China makes a face mask as companies strive to match demand – but some people are buying similar materials to assemble at home. Photo: Xinhua
Living in the scenic Puer city in southwestern China’s Yunnan province, 30-year-old Zhang Jianing had thought the
coronavirus outbreak in Hubei was far away and irrelevant, until cases were confirmed in her province and then her city at the end of January.
Heeding the warnings to protect herself, Zhang rushed out to buy masks, only to find them all snapped up. When she plucked up the courage to go out to buy groceries, she realised she needed to have a mask on to be allowed to enter shops.
After doing some research online, Zhang made a mask herself: two layers of cotton on the outside, with a sheet of plastic food wrap inside.
“The mask fit my face well and protected me from droplets,” Zhang said. “There was just one thing: it was too difficult to breathe through.”
Experts devise do-it-yourself face masks to help people battle coronavirus
When a nation of 1.4 billion people was suddenly alerted and in many cases ordered to wear masks not only in public indoor places but also in the open air, the huge demand quickly exhausted supply.
Mask production capacity in China was 22 million a day – insufficient for the country’s population. There were hopes that the supply of masks would pick up after a Lunar New Year holiday that was extended to help prevent further spread of infection, but things did not look promising after factories reopened. By Monday, despite mask manufacturers making 10 per cent more than in early February, masks remained a rare commodity.
Making DIY masks became the top trending topic on Chinese online shopping site Taobao for several days. Materials became much sought-after, from nose bars to the non-woven fabric used in disposable surgical masks to filter out viral droplets. An online shop based in Fujian, southeast China, said it had sold more than 5,500 packages of DIY mask materials that can make 50 to 200 surgical masks apiece.
Surgical masks ‘protect more from germs on fingers than viruses in the air’
Zhang spent 200 yuan (US$29) on materials online, from which she made 60 surgical masks when they arrived last week. She is a qipao designer and has a sewing machine at home. The outer layer was a blue waterproof non-woven fabric, over a layer of melt-blown fabric that can filter out most germs and droplets. The inner layer was made with a face flannel.
Hongkongers make reusable fabric masks as Covid-19 epidemic leads to shortages and sky-high prices
“I sent some to my parents and relatives,” Zhang said. “I am not sure how protective they are, but the good thing is our city hasn’t had any new cases for a long time.”
DIY mask production is being taken very seriously, spawning online chat groups to discuss reliability of materials and disinfection methods as people try to make theirs as safe and professional as possible.
Alex Zhang, an office worker in Shanghai, donated her N95 masks to Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, when hospitals in the city appealed to the public for protective gear amid an acute shortage – but soon found herself short of masks herself.
Shanghai companies begin production of first reusable face masks
The Shanghai government allowed households to buy a certain number of surgical masks, but it was not enough for her family. Taking apart an N95 mask to see what it was made of, she felt assembling the layers of fabric required no special technique, and decided to do it herself.
Zhang spent 45 yuan on two square metres of melt-blown fabric to stop viruses, and sandwiched it with two layers of nonwoven fabric and an air pad. She sewed the layers together and put them in an electric oven at 70 degrees Celsius (158 Fahrenheit) for a minute, for disinfection. The finished mask is attached using a plastic band.
“Each mask cost about 3 yuan [43 US cents] and was almost like an N95 filter,” Zhang said. “I didn’t find it difficult. I am quite satisfied with my masks and feel very safe to wear them in crowded places.”
How to properly remove and discard face masks to reduce the risk of infection
She later bought nursing pads, which are already disinfected, to replace the layer closest to the face.
DIY masks have also been used where large amounts of protective gear are needed. Garment manufacturer Shenzhou International, in the coastal Zhejiang province, assigned 100 staff to make masks with melt-blown non-woven fabric to meet the needs of its factory workforce of nearly 15,000, who needed two masks each per day, according to a report by Ningbo Daily.
Hospitals short of masks have mobilised nurses to make their own using a non-woven fabric used to wrap disinfected medical products. At least three hospitals, in Xian in central China and in Jinhua, Zhejiang, have tried making masks for medical staff not serving on the front line, according to media reports.
DIY handmade face masks in Hong Kong
The World Health Organisation has said that wearing masks alone is not sufficient protection against the coronavirus, and should be combined with precautions including hand-washing with soap or an alcohol-based hand rub.
However, facing a shortage that will not end any time soon, health authorities have changed from saying people should discard masks every four hours to advising recycling them when possible.
A guideline issued by the National Health Commission said healthy people could wear masks repeatedly and for a longer time.
Chinese driver wears 12 face masks amid coronavirus outbreak
“Masks for repeat use can be hung in clean, dry and airy places or put in a clean paper bag,” its guidelines said. “The masks must be placed separately to avoid contact with other masks.”
Making masks with layers of cotton bandage is acceptable, because they can stay dry when breathed on, but plastic wrap is not recommended, because it blocks the ability to breathe entirely, according to Cai Haodong, an infectious diseases specialist at Beijing’s Ditan Hospital.
Coronavirus: Thais urged to make their own masks, sanitisers due to shortage
Cai said her hospital did not have surgical masks, nor N95s, during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003, and hospital staff made masks for use by front-line medics, disinfecting them with boiling water and drying them in the sun.
“The key is to keep the mask dry,” Cai said. “Self-made masks offer some degree of protection and it is better to wear them than nothing.”
Source: SCMP
Posted in alcohol-based hand rub, Beijing’s Ditan Hospital, China’s, coronavirus, coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19 epidemic, epicentre, face mask, Fujian, hand-washing, hubei province, inspired, Jinhua, Lunar New Year holiday, materials, National Health Commission, Ningbo Daily, People, qipao designer, sewing machine, Shanghai, shortage, soap, Thais, to learn, to make, Uncategorized, World Health Organisation, Wuhan, Xi'an, Yunnan Province, Zhejiang, zhejiang province |
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24/02/2020
BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) — With the positive trend of containing the outbreak of novel coronavirus illness (COVID-19), China is meticulously expanding business operations with a precise approach that attaches different priorities to regions in light of their health risks.
A total of 11 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported Sunday outside Hubei Province, the center of the outbreak, while 24 provincial-level regions didn’t report newly confirmed cases, according to the National Health Commission Monday.
As more provincial-level regions have been reporting no newly confirmed cases for longer streaks, more local governments are starting to lower their emergency response to fast-track the restoration of economic and social order.
While high-risk regions still need to be fully committed to epidemic prevention and control, regions with relatively low risks are encouraged to focus on forestalling cases brought in from elsewhere and comprehensively restoring the order of production and life, said a meeting Sunday.
Coastal province Fujian has divided the 88 cities and counties into four groups, ranging from regions with over ten infections to regions with none, and adopted differentiated measures to better fight the outbreak and mitigate the impact on the economy.
Changting County in Fujian, for instance, which has no confirmed cases of infection, has seen most of the key enterprises resume production.
The country has pledged efforts such as arranging customized trains for migrant workers, smoothing the traffic, enhancing credit support and alleviating social security burden on employers to bring enterprises back on track.
Shanghai Municipality has rolled out 28 policies to provide targeted fiscal support, tax and fee cuts, as well as epidemic-prevention supplies for local enterprises, ferrying them through rough patches.
Foreign companies will also benefit from the supportive policies and be treated on the same footing as other types of enterprises, said Xu Wei, spokesperson for the Shanghai municipal government.
The operation resumption rate of 51,000 foreign-funded enterprises in Shanghai is nearly 70 percent, while that of the regional headquarters of 217 multinational companies is as high as 93 percent.
Wyeth Nutrition, a Sino-U.S. joint venture with its headquarter in Shanghai, is operating at its capacity to supply infant formula in China.
“The local commerce department has built a green channel for us, ensuring smooth operation of our supply chains and product delivery in the Yangtze River Delta,” said Cao Jingheng, vice president of the company.
Foreign firms and firms are high on the agenda of Chinese government agencies when formulating preferential policies.
The Ministry of Commerce has promised to strengthen services and guarantees to foreign-funded enterprises while the General Administration of Customs vowed efforts to optimize the port business environment and promote reciprocal market opening up.
Now with the country gradually heading back to work, many are confident that the potential economic blow brought by the national production halt is expected to be only a short-term, one-off hit against China’s solid economic foundation.
The epidemic might disturb economic activities in the first quarter of this year, but the economy is likely to steady shortly after the epidemic is contained, as the unleashing of pent-up demands will make up for previous weak economic performance, said Pan Gongsheng, vice governor of the People’s Bank of China, the central bank.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Saturday that she expects China’s economy to “return to normal in the second quarter” of 2020.
“As a result, the impact on the world economy would be relatively minor and short-lived,” Georgieva said.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in Beijing, Central bank, corporate China, COVID-19, epidemic, Fujian, gears up, hubei province, International Monetary Fund, Ministry of Commerce, National Health Commission, operation restoration, People's Bank of China, Shanghai Municipality, Uncategorized, Wyeth Nutrition |
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13/12/2019
- Sinkhole suddenly opened up near subway station in city of Xiamen but no one is killed or injured
- Taxi driver whose vehicle was swallowed up says he and his passenger were able to pull themselves free unaided
The hole opened up at a site in Xiamen. Photo: Weibo
Two cars have been swallowed by a hole that opened up in the ground near a subway station in southeast China.
It is the latest of a string of ground collapses involving subway projects in mainland cities this year.
The 500 square metre hole opened up just before 10pm on Thursday near Lucuo station in Xiamen, a city in Fujian province.
The city’s subway operator said no one had died or been injured in the accident and the people in the two cars had been able to get out on their own.
The accident also caused water pipes to burst, flooding the station.
No injuries were reported after the incident. Photo: Weibo
The road and station were temporarily closed after the accident, but normal services resumed on Friday morning.
One of the cars swallowed was a taxi, and the driver told Beijing News he had been driving along the road when he suddenly found the vehicle falling into the hole.
The man, surnamed Chang, dragged his passenger free and they were able to climb out of the pit unaided. He said the car had not been seriously damaged.
Three people are still missing after a similar accident in the southern city of Guangzhou earlier this month that swallowed a truck and electric bike.
Five workers were also killed in the eastern port city of Qingdao in May in an accident at a subway construction site.
Source: SCMP
Posted in accident, burst, cars, drivers, flooding, Fujian, ground collapses, Guangzhou, hole, lucky escape, Lucuo station, mainland, mainland cities, passengers, Qingdao, southeast China, station, subway projects, swallows, The Beijing News, Uncategorized, water pipes, Xiamen |
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05/09/2019
- Researchers will conduct tests at site in Gansu to see whether it will make a viable facility to store highly radioactive waste safely
- Scientists say China has the chance to become a world leader in this field but has to find a way to ensure it does not leak
A preliminary design for the Beishan Underground Research Laboratory. Photo: Handout
China has chosen a site for an underground laboratory to research the disposal of highly radioactive waste, the country’s nuclear safety watchdog said on Wednesday.
Officials said work will soon begin on building the Beishan Underground Research Laboratory 400 metres underground in the northwestern province of Gansu.
Liu Hua, the head of the Chinese National Nuclear Safety Administration, said work would be carried out to determine whether it would be possible to build a repository for high-level nuclear waste deep underground.
“China sees radioactive waste disposal as a very important part [of the development nuclear energy],” said Liu. “To develop nuclear energy, we must have safe storage and disposal of nuclear waste.”
China condemns US blacklisting of nuclear firms and says American companies could be hurt as a result
The Chinese authorities see nuclear power an important source of energy that will help to curb carbon emissions and pollution as well as reducing its dependence on fuel imports.
But while the country has made great strides in the development of nuclear power, it needs to find a safe and reliable way of dealing with its growing stockpiles of nuclear waste.
Liu said the Gansu site had been identified as a possible location for a deep nuclear waste store after years of searching.
Once the laboratory is built, scientists and engineers will start experiments to confirm whether it will make a viable underground storage facility.
“Based on the data of the experiments, we can then decide if we are going to pick this as the final site,” he added.
China ‘actively promoting’ nuclear fuel processing plant with French Areva
Chinese officials usually stay tight-lipped about how nuclear waste is disposed of mainly because of fears that any discussion of the topic would trigger safety fears, although in recent years more efforts have been made to inform the public to win support.
Scientists say that nuclear waste can be divided into three categories depending on the level of radioactivity.
Low-level waste consists of minimally radioactive materials such as mop heads, rags, or protective clothing used in nuclear plants, while intermediate-level waste covers things such as filters and used reactor components.
High-level waste, however, is generated by the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and scientists generally agree that the safest way to dispose of it is to bury it deep underground in areas where the geology means it will have a minimal impact on the environment while it decays over thousands of years.
The facility will be built in a remote part of Gansu province. Photo: Handout
Some Chinese scientists said the country had the chance to lead the world in this area of research but others have expressed concerns about safety.
Jiang Kejun, a senior researcher at the Energy Research Institute of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, said that very few countries in the world are studying this form of nuclear waste disposal.
“It gives China an opportunity to be a leader in research in this area, plus China has the technology and financial means,” he said.
About a dozen countries including France, Switzerland, Japan, and the United States have carried out research in this area, but in recent years most have abandoned or scaled back their programmes.
At present there are storage sites operating in Finland and the US, but other countries such as Germany have abandoned plans to build similar facilities.
Washington blacklists Chinese nuclear firms for ‘helping military acquire US technology’
But despite broad scientific support for underground disposal, some analysts and many members of the public remain sceptical about whether it is really safe.
Lei Yian, an associate professor at the School of Physics at Peking University, said there was no absolute guarantee that the repositories would be safe when they are come into operation.
“Leakage has happened in [repositories] in the US and the former Soviet Union … it’s a difficult problem worldwide,” he said. “If China can solve it, then it will have solved a global problem.”
China is also building more facilities to dispose of low and intermediate level waste. Officials said new plants were being built in Zhenjiang, Fujian and Shandong, three coastal provinces that currently lack disposal facilities.
At present, two disposal sites for low and intermediate-level waste are in operation in Gansu and Guangdong provinces.
Source: SCMP
Posted in American companies, Beishan Underground Research Laboratory, blacklists, bury it deep, carbon emissions, China alert, chinese authorities, Chinese National Nuclear Safety Administration, Chinese nuclear firms, Chinese officials, coastal provinces, condemns, conduct, Country, deep underground, difficult problem, disposal facilities, earmarks, Energy Research Institute, Environment, filters, Finland, France, French Areva, fuel imports, Fujian, Gansu Province, geology, Germany, global problem, great strides, helping military acquire, High-level waste, highly radioactive waste, hurt, intermediate-level waste, Japan, lack, Leakage, Low-level waste, mop heads, National Development and Reform Commission, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), nuclear energy, nuclear firms, nuclear fuel processing plant, Nuclear power, nuclear safety watchdog, nuclear waste, Peking University, Pollution, protective clothing, rags, repositories, repository, reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, researchers, result, safely, School of Physics, scientists, shandong province, site, source of energy, Soviet Union, stockpiles, store, Switzerland, tests, Uncategorized, underground, underground disposal, United States, US, US blacklisting, US technology, used reactor components, viable facility, Washington, world leader, worldwide, Zhenjiang |
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22/07/2019
- Delicate balance for Disney in its portrayal of China’s classic tale of female heroism
- Too Americanised, or pandering to a mainland Chinese audience?
Chinese-American actress Crystal Liu Yifei plays the title role in Disney’s Mulan. Photo: Disney
Since the trailer for Disney’s live-action film Mulan was released last weekend, both mainland Chinese in the East and the diaspora in the West have been abuzz about their cultural identity and its representation in Hollywood – albeit for different reasons.
Chinese viewers have, on one hand, been enthusiastic about the casting of Chinese-American actress Crystal Liu Yifei in the lead role and the chance for a seemingly more “authentic” Chinese story to be told on the global stage.
On the other hand, they have pointed out historical inaccuracies – such as the southern Chinese setting when the source material states that Mulan is from the north – and expressed concerns that the plot has been too “Americanised”.
Meanwhile, many Chinese-Americans were surprised to discover upon watching the trailer that the beloved 1998 animation had changed beyond recognition – most notably with the absence of talking dragon Mushu and male love interest Li Shang. Some also felt that the new film pandered too much to a mainland Chinese audience.
“The idea of a mythic mash-up of China [in the new film] … seems to play to the idea of a unified, singular China, an artistic representation of the one-China policy, which is troubling to me,” said Jeannette Ng, a British sci-fi author with Hong Kong heritage.
“A lot of the time, this conversation acts like the only Chinese people who matter are the ones who live in mainland China – that they are the only truly authentic ones and everyone else is too Westernised to count,” she said.
The online discussion indicates the delicate balance Hollywood interpretations of Chinese classics have to strike in portraying Chinese versus American values, as big US-China co-productions try their hardest to integrate the two for bigger global box office takings.
Despite ticket sales in China falling 3.6 per cent in the first half of 2019, owing to tightened government censorship, China is still projected to overtake the US box office next year, according to a recent report by professional services firm PwC.
Disney has tried hard to make the new film more true to its ancient Chinese source material, with a detailed – if inaccurate – historical setting featuring the ancient tulou roundhouses of the southeastern province of Fujian, and a star-studded, all-Asian cast with several icons of Chinese cinema such as Jet Li, Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen and Gong Li.
Disney’s live-action version of Mulan is truer to the ancient source material. Photo: Handout
“Disney’s tent pole movies are aiming at a global audience. That being said, given that China is the largest international market and the story is based on a Chinese folk tale, Disney will definitely take the Chinese audience’s taste into consideration,” said a Chinese film producer, who asked to remain anonymous, at a major US studio in Beijing.
“However, this is also a double-edged sword, as people tend to be more picky when they see things they are familiar with.”
Indeed, several Chinese media think pieces have questioned whether elements of the original legend had become too Americanised in the film, leading to an inauthentic representation of a beloved Chinese heroine.
For instance, the Disney trailer suggests that Mulan joins the army to escape an arranged marriage, breaking away from family traditions and establishing her independence as a woman unbound by gender roles.
But in the original folk song Ballad of Mulan, on which the film is based, she volunteers to take the place of her ageing father in the army – making her a symbol of filial piety, courage and patriotism in traditional Chinese culture.
Some critics say Mulan has been Americanised. Photo: YouTube
In a widely shared analysis discussing whether Disney’s Mulan was a feminist icon, Peking University Press wrote: “Perhaps this is a cross-cultural creative misunderstanding that reflects the core differences between Chinese and Western culture. If Mulan is seen as a feminist symbol, I fear this may be wishful thinking.”
However, both Chinese-Americans and Chinese nationals agree that the film, slated for release in March, is an inspiring tale for young girls.
“I feel like the people who are criticising the film are too attached and focused on the nostalgia factor. They are not seeing the bigger picture and the positive implications of this movie,” said Alex Diep, a 23-year-old American of Vietnamese-Chinese descent.
“They are disregarding that this film gives an opportunity for young Asian girls to look up to Mulan and see her as a role model,” he said.
Some Chinese have interpreted it as an inspiring fable of female strength and liberation, especially when ingrained patriarchal values and government initiatives such as the one-child policy have restricted women’s rights over the years.
“[Mulan] remains one of the very few fighters and not conventionally feminine figures in the Disney princess canon,” Ng said.
“[T]his is some sort of feminism education for a single-child generation in China that girls can fight like men do,” tweeted Chinese journalist Li Jing.
Chinese-Americans are also optimistic that it will be a sure-fire win for Asian representation on the big screen, especially after the success of last year’s romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians.
“[Critics of the trailer] are disregarding the fact that this movie is another opportunity to showcase Asian people in a movie where we are not perceived as a negative stereotype,” Diep said.
Others feel that the film can help build a bridge between East and West.
“Mulan is a Chinese story. It comes from a completely different culture, one which I’m not at all convinced that Hollywood, or the West at large, truly understands yet,” said
New Yorker Jonathan Pu, who is of Taiwanese descent. He said he enjoyed the lighthearted animation, but that it did not define his expectations for the remake.
“If Disney can stay true to the source material and convey [filial piety] in a way that even just some of the audience can grasp, then it will go a long way towards building bridges,” Pu said.
Ultimately, the success of this American spin on Chinese culture will rest on box office sales, which Disney hopes will exceed the 1998 animation that flopped in mainland cinemas. Recent Disney live-action remakes have had a mixed reception in China – Dumbo flopped in March, while The Lion King did moderately well on its release last weekend.
“I’m sure there will be a mixed response when the movie is released but it should have enough buzz and do well,” said the Beijing film producer.
“I hope it will be able to convey the spirit of Mulan and inspire millions of young girls.”
Source: SCMP
Posted in army, Ballad of Mulan, China’s classic tale, Chinese culture, Chinese identity, Chinese-American actress, courage, Crazy Rich Asians, Crystal Liu Yifei, different questions, Disney, Donnie Yen, Dumbo, East, female heroism, Filial Piety, Fujian, Gong Li, inspires, Jet Li, Mulan, patriotism, Peking University Press, PwC, roundhouses, sparks, symbol, The Lion King, traditional, tulou, Uncategorized, volunteers, West |
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05/05/2019
Photo taken on May 5, 2019 shows the booth of Xinhua News Agency at the 2nd Digital China Exhibition in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province. The 2nd Digital China Exhibition runs from May 5 to 9 at the Fuzhou Strait International Conference & Exhibition Center. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)
Source: Xinhua
Posted in China alert, Digital China Exhibition, Fujian, Fuzhou, Uncategorized |
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CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 