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
Posted in accelerated, announced, arriving, asymptomatic case, ASYMPTOMATIC CASES, “closed loop”, Beijing, business executives, charter, charter flights, chartered, chartered flight, China, Chinese city, Chinese public, confirmed, confirmed cases, coronavirus, coronavirus cases, COVID-19, daily statements, discovered, economies, engineer, entry procedure, flight, Frankfurt, German, Germany, Government, great risk, health authority, local hospital, local time, lockdown, Lufthansa, medical observation, midnight, months, National Health Commission (NHC), offered, Official, passenger, passengers, placed, posing, reignite, scheduled, shandong province, Shanghai, social media platform, tested positive, Tianjin, transferred, Uncategorized, Weibo, whole process |
Leave a Comment »
29/04/2020
BEIJING (Reuters) – China announced on Wednesday that its parliament will open a key annual session on May 22, signalling that Beijing sees the country returning to normal after being reduced to a near-standstill for months by the COVID-19 epidemic.
During the gathering of the National People’s Congress in the capital, delegates will ratify major legislation, and the government will unveil economic targets, set defence spending projections and make personnel changes. The ruling Communist Party also typically announces signature policy initiatives.
The session was initially scheduled to start on March 5 but was postponed due to COVID-19, which has infected nearly 83,000 people and killed more than 4,600 on the mainland after emerging late last year in the central city of Wuhan.
As the epidemic has subsided, economic and social life gradually returned to normal, making it possible for the congress to convene, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the standing committee of the NPC, the legislature’s top decision-making body, as saying.
The committee also appointed Huang Runqiu as the new minister for ecology and environment, a post vacated when predecessor Li Ganjie became deputy Communist Party chief for Shandong province earlier this month, Xinhua reported.
Tang Yijun was also named as the new justice minister to replace Fu Zhenghua, who has reached the retirement age of 65 for ministers.
The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body to parliament, has proposed starting its annual session a day before the parliamentary session opens.
Analysts expect China to roll out additional fiscal stimulus in order to cushion the blow from COVID-19, which has developed in to a worldwide pandemic that some fear will trigger a severe global recession.
China’s economy contracted for the first time on record during the January-March period, when the government imposed severe travel and transport restriction to curb the spread of the epidemic.
Parliament is also expected to discuss the anti-government protests in Hong Kong, amid growing speculation that Beijing take steps to strengthen its grip on the city.
It is unclear how long parliament and its advisory body will meet for this time, and people familiar with the matter have told Reuters that this year’s annual sessions could be the shortest in decades due to COVID-19 concerns. Usually more than 5,000 delegates descend on Beijing from all over China for at least 10 days.
Beijing city plans to ease quarantine rules as early as Thursday, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters, ahead of the key political meetings.
People arriving in the capital from other parts of China will no long have to be quarantined for two weeks unless they come from high-risk areas such as Heilongjiang in the north and some parts of Guangdong in the southeast, the sources said.
Source: Reuters
Posted in 22, 65, additional, advisory body, amid, analysts, announced, announces, annual, annual session, anti-government protests, appointed, arliamentary session, became, before, Beijing, blow, body, capital, central city, changes, China, China’s economy, Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), City, Communist Party, communist party chief, Congress, contracted, convene, Country, COVID-19, COVID-19 epidemic, curb, day, decision-making, defence spending, delegates, deputy, developed, due, during, earlier, Economic, economic targets, emerging, epidemic, expect, first time, fiscal stimulus, gathering, global recession, Government, gradually, grip, growing, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Hong Kong, imposed, infected, initially, initiatives, January, justice minister, key session, killed, late last year, legislation, legislature’s, mainland, Major, make, making, March, May, minister for ecology and environment, ministers, months, more than, named, National People’s Congress, near-standstill, nearly, new, normal, on record, opens, order, parliament, parliamentary session, People, Period, personnel, policy, possible, Post, postponed, predecessor, projections, proposed, quarantine, quoted, ratify, reached, reduced, replace, reported, restriction, retirement age, returned, returning, roll out, ruling, saying, scheduled, session, set, severe, shandong province, signalling, signature, social life, speculation, spread, start, starting, strengthen, subsides, take steps, the standing committee of the NPC, this month, Thursday, to cushion, to open, top, Transport, travel, trigger, typically, Uncategorized, unclear, unveil, vacated, Wednesday, when, worldwide pandemic, Wuhan, Xinhua, Xinhua News Agency |
Leave a Comment »
28/04/2020
QINGDAO, April 27 (Xinhua) — New cargo train services have been launched between east China’s Shandong Province and countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
A train carrying 45 containers departed Monday from the intermodal transportation center of the demonstration zone for China-SCO local economic and trade cooperation in the city of Qingdao, according to the demonstration zone.
The train, loaded with excavators and land levelers worth a total of 20 million yuan (2.8 million U.S. dollars), is expected to arrive at Almaty, Kazakhstan, in eight days.
With the intermodal transportation center in Qingdao as the cargo distribution center, the monthly train services will deliver cargo to more than 30 cities of SCO countries, including Tashkent, Minsk and Ulan Bator.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in 30, Almaty, between, cargo, cargo distribution center, cargo train service, center, China, China-SCO, cities, City, containers, countries, days, deliver, demonstration, departed, east China's, eight, excavators, expected, including, intermodal, Kazakhstan, land levelers, launched, loaded, local economic, million, Minsk, Monday, monthly, more than, new, Qingdao, SCO countries, shandong province, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Tashkent, to arrive, trade cooperation, Train, Train services, transportation, U.S. dollars, Ulan Bator, Uncategorized, yuan, zone |
Leave a Comment »
19/04/2020
A farmer works in a field in Fanjiatai Village of Difang Town, Pingyi County, Linyi City, east China’s Shandong Province, April 18, 2020. The upcoming Guyu, literally meaning “Rain of Millet”, is the sixth of the 24 solar terms created by ancient Chinese to carry out agricultural activities. For the year 2020, the day of Guyu falls on April 19. (Photo by Wu Jiquan/Xinhua)
Source: Xinhua
Posted in "Rain of Millet", 19, 2020, 24, agricultural activities, ancient, April, busy, carry out, Chinese, comes, created, day, Difang Town, east China's, falls, Fanjiatai Village, farmers, field, Guyu, Linyi City, literally, meaning, Pingyi County,, shandong province, sixth, Solar Terms, Uncategorized, upcoming, working, works, year |
Leave a Comment »
19/04/2020
- Faced with a backlash from the West over its handling of the early stages of the pandemic, Beijing has been quietly gaining ground in Asia
- Teams of experts and donations of medical supplies have been largely welcomed by China’s neighbours
Despite facing some criticism from the West, China’s Asian neighbours have welcomed its medical expertise and vital supplies. Photo: Xinhua
While China’s campaign to mend its international image in the wake of its handling of the
coronavirus health crisis has been met with scepticism and even a backlash from the US and its Western allies, Beijing has been quietly gaining ground in Asia.
Teams of experts have been sent to Cambodia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan and soon to Malaysia, to share their knowledge from the pandemic’s ground zero in central China.
Beijing has also donated or facilitated shipments of medical masks and ventilators to countries in need. And despite some of the equipment failing to meet Western quality standards, or being downright defective, the supplies have been largely welcomed in Asian countries.
China has also held a series of online “special meetings” with its Asian neighbours, most recently on Tuesday when Premier Li Keqiang discussed his country’s experiences in combating the disease and rebooting a stalled economy with the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Japan and South Korea.
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang speaks to Asean Plus Three leaders during a virtual summit on Tuesday. Photo: AP
Many Western politicians have publicly questioned Beijing’s role and its subsequent handling of the crisis but Asian leaders – including Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – have been reluctant to blame the Chinese government, while also facing criticism at home for not closing their borders with China soon enough to prevent the spread of the virus.
An official from one Asian country said attention had shifted from the early stages of the outbreak – when disgruntled voices among the public were at their loudest – as people watched the virus continue its deadly spread through their homes and across the world.
“Now everybody just wants to get past the quarantine,” he said. “China has been very helpful to us. It’s also closer to us so it’s easier to get shipments from them. The [medical] supplies keep coming, which is what we need right now.”
The official said also that while the teams of experts sent by Beijing were mainly there to observe and offer advice, the gesture was still appreciated.
Another Asian official said the tardy response by Western governments in handling the outbreak had given China an advantage, despite its initial lack of transparency over the outbreak.
“The West is not doing a better job on this,” he said, adding that his government had taken cues from Beijing on the use of propaganda in shaping public opinion and boosting patriotic sentiment in a time of crisis.
“Because it happened in China first, it has given us time to observe what works in China and adopt [these measures] for our country,” the official said.
Experts in the region said that Beijing’s intensifying campaign of “mask diplomacy” to reverse the damage to its reputation had met with less resistance in Asia.
Why China’s ‘mask diplomacy’ is raising concern in the West
“Over the past two months or so, China, after getting the Covid-19 outbreak under control, has been using a very concerted effort to reshape the narrative, to pre-empt the narrative that China is liable for this global pandemic, that China has to compensate other countries,” said Richard Heydarian, a Manila-based academic and former policy adviser to the Philippine government.
“It doesn’t help that the US is in lockdown with its domestic crisis and that we have someone like President Trump who is more interested in playing the blame game rather than acting like a global leader,” he said.
Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst with the foreign policy and security studies programme at Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic and International Studies, said that as the US had withdrawn into its own affairs as it struggled to contain the pandemic, China had found Southeast Asia a fertile ground for cultivating an image of itself as a provider.
China’s first-quarter GDP shrinks for the first time since 1976 as coronavirus cripples economy
Beijing’s highly publicised delegations tasking medical equipment and supplies had burnished that reputation, he said, adding that the Chinese government had also “quite successfully shaped general Southeast Asian perceptions of its handling of the pandemic, despite growing evidence that it could have acted more swiftly at the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan”.
“Its capacity and will to build hospitals from scratch and put hundreds of millions of people on lockdown are being compared to the more indecisive and chaotic responses seen in the West, especially in Britain and the United States,” he said.
Coronavirus droplets may travel further than personal distancing guidelines
Lockman said Southeast Asian countries had also been careful to avoid getting caught in the middle of the deteriorating relationship between Beijing and Washington as the two powers pointed fingers at each other over the origins of the new coronavirus.
“The squabble between China and the United States about the pandemic is precisely what Asean governments would go to great lengths to avoid because it is seen as an expression of Sino-US rivalry,” he said.
“Furthermore, the immense Chinese market is seen as providing an irreplaceable route towards Southeast Asia’s post-pandemic economic recovery.”
Aaron Connelly, a research fellow in Southeast Asian political change and foreign policy with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, said Asian countries’ dependence on China had made them slow to blame China for the pandemic.
“Anecdotally, it seems to me that most Southeast Asian political and business elites have given Beijing a pass on the initial cover-up of Covid-19, and high marks for the domestic lockdown that followed,” he said.
“This may be motivated reasoning, because these elites are so dependent on Chinese trade and investment, and see little benefit in criticising China.”
China and Vietnam ‘likely to clash again’ as they build maritime militias
The cooperation with its neighbours as they grapple with the coronavirus had not slowed China’s military and research activities in the disputed areas of the
South China Sea – a point of contention that would continue to cloud relations in the region, experts said.
Earlier this month an encounter in the South China Sea with a Chinese coastguard vessel led to the sinking of a fishing boat from Vietnam, which this year assumed chairmanship of Asean.
And in a move that could spark fresh regional concerns, shipping data on Thursday showed a controversial Chinese government survey ship, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, had moved closer to Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone.
The survey ship was embroiled in a months-long stand-off last year with Vietnamese vessels within Hanoi’s exclusive economic zone and was spotted again on Tuesday 158km (98 miles) off the Vietnamese coast.
Source: SCMP
Posted in 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 1976, 27, 44, 50%, 54, according, across the world, again, against, April, areas, arriving, ASEAN, Asian, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), ASYMPTOMATIC CASES, at, authorities, avoid, ‘mask diplomacy’, battling, Beijing, Beijing’s, biggest, blame, blame game, borders, Britain, build, burnished, cabinet, cases, cautioning, central, central district, chairmanship, China, China's, China’s National Health Commission, Chinese capital, chinese government, Chinese market, City, clinical, closer, closing, coast, coastguard vesse, coastguard vessel, combating, compensate, confirmed, confirmed cases, considered, contain, contention, control, controversial, coronavirus, coronavirus cases, cough, countries, country’s, COVID-19, COVID-19 outbreak, cripples, crisis, criticism, cross infections, Data, day, deadly spread, death toll, deaths, declines, delegations, despite, destabilising, Disease, disputed areas, districts, domestic, down, earlier, eastern, economic recovery, economically, economy, elsewhere, embroiled, epicentre, epidemic, everybody, exclusive economic zones, experiences, eyes, facing, fall, family gatherings, fever, first time, fishing boat, flare-up, foreign policy and security studies programme, Friday, from, GDP, global leader, global pandemic, Government, Guangzhou, Haiyang Dizhi 8, handling, Hanoi’s, Harbin, health commission, Heilongjiang, high-risk, Home, hospitals, However, hubei province, hundreds, imported, imported infections, including, infected, Institute of Strategic and International Studies, interested, International Institute for Strategic Studies, investigations, irreplaceable, Japan, Japanese Prime Minister, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Jiaozhou, km, last, leaders, local, locally, lockdown, low-risk, lowest, mainland, Mainland China, Major, Malaysia’s, March, medical equipment and supplies, medium-risk, miles, military and research activities, millions, months-long, moved, narrative, new, nine, Northeastern, Notably, now, number, off, Official, officials, on guard, outbreak, patients, People, perceptions, Philippine, playing, political, politicians, Post, post-pandemic, pre-empt, Premier Li Keqiang, present, President Trump, prevent, previous, province, provincial capital, provincial government, publicly, published, punished, quarantine, questioned, quickly, quoted, reached, rebooting, rebound, recent, reluctant, remaining, reported, reporting, reputation, research fellow, reshape, resurgence, role, route, Russia, Saturday, saying, scratch, seen, senior analyst, shandong province, shipping data, showed, shrinks, since, Singapore, sinking, Sino-US rivalry, slow, social media, socially, soon enough, South China Sea, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian political change and foreign policy, southern city, spotted, spread, squabble, stalled, stand-off, State Council, statement, stood, stop, subsequent, Suifenhe, Sunday, surge, survey ship, symptoms, tally, task, test positive, Three, Thursday, Total, towards, transmitted, Transparency, travellers, Tuesday, two, Uncategorized, United States, vice governor, vice mayor, Vietnam, Vietnamese, Vietnamese vessels, virtual summit, Virus, Washington, website, weeks, were, Western, within, Wuhan, year |
Leave a Comment »
09/04/2020
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) said in a statement on Thursday it increased the storage capacity at two of energy giant Sinopec’s (600028.SS) crude oil futures delivery warehouses.
The delivery warehouses, one at the Yangpu Economic Development Zone storage in the southern province of Hainan and the other at Rizhao city in the eastern province of Shandong, would see additional storage capacity of 200,000 cubic metres each, according to the INE, which is owned by the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
This would bring the exchange’s total warehouse capacity for crude oil futures to 4.7 million cubic metres.
Reuters reported last week that oil traders seeking to take advantage of a price anomaly by delivering crude into Shanghai crude futures contracts are unable to do so as storage designated by the exchange is full.
Shanghai crude oil futures ISCcv1 have pulled ahead of ICE Brent LCOc1, making it attractive for traders to deliver Middle East crude into China.
Some companies are holding onto their warehouse receipts as INE’s storage costs are relatively low, making profits by delivering oil into the facilities, sources said, with one adding that most of the space had been booked and held by investors who treat warehouse receipts as a financial tool.
The INE last week gave its approval for Dalian PetroChina International Storage and Transportation Co, Ltd to increase its delivery warehouse storage capacity by 750,000 cubic metres to 1.15 million cubic metres in Dalian city, in the northern province of Liaoning.
China launched its internationalised yuan-denominated crude oil futures contract in March 2018 with the aim of establishing an Asian oil price benchmark.
Posted in Asian oil price, benchmark, Dalian city, Dalian PetroChina International Storage and Transportation Co, Ltd, energy exchange, Hainan Province, ICE Brent LCOc1, International Energy Exchange (INE), Liaoning province, March, Middle East crude, Rizhao city, shandong province, Shanghai, Shanghai Futures Exchange, Sinopec oil, Sinopec’s (600028.SS), storage capacity, Uncategorized, warehouse, Yangpu Economic Development Zone |
Leave a Comment »
06/04/2020
SHENYANG, April 5 (Xinhua) — Huo Chunlei, who runs a hotpot restaurant in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province, said he did not lay off any of his staff, although the restaurant is having difficulties for reopening after two months of closure in China’s nationwide measures of coronavirus control.
A few weeks after Chinese provincial-regions with low risk of the novel coronavirus gradually resumed work and production, shops and eateries have reopened, and roads become bustling again, as hundreds of millions of people confined at home for weeks in compliance with epidemic prevention rules get back to a normal life.
Huo’s restaurant has been in operation for a week. Only half of the tables are filled at dinnertime. The revenue is barely enough to cover the expenses of the house rent and employee wages, he said.
However, he said his business is able to survive because of the government’s bailout policies. For example, the approval of deferred payment of social insurance premiums for his employees alone can save him 80,000 yuan (about 11,250 U.S. dollars) a month.
“The staff are willing to stay, as we are all confident in tiding over the difficulties together,” he said.
The local governments at all levels have rolled out a slew of measures to shore up the catering business, including cutting taxes, reducing house rent as well as water and electricity fees.
The governments in Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have issued coupons with a value ranging from 10 million yuan to 100 million yuan to encourage people to spend on dining out.
Before the production resumption, there were some consumer councils’ surveys showing that consumers had suppressed consumption desire for dining out and shopping as well as going to movie theaters, gymnasiums and tourist spots after the epidemic crisis ends.
“The so-called retaliatory consumption has not yet appeared in the catering industry, as people are still wary about the infection risk, but there will be a gradual recovery growth,” said Chen Heng, executive director of Hainan Hotel and Catering Industry Association in the southernmost Chinese province of Hainan.
“Before reopening, we increased the distances between tables, but with reduced tables, there are still many empty tables at dinner time. My restaurant used to have all seats full and even queues,” said Huo.
Like Huo, Lin Lunheng, founder of the Fuzhou Super Dinner Co. Ltd. in southeast China’s Fujian Province, is also worried about business.
“Although the chain stores have reopened, revenues have decreased by 70 percent compared with that before the epidemic. This is a big blow to restaurants,” said Lin.
The Italian style chain restaurant has offered e-coupons to draw customers.
As the spring weather is getting more and more pleasant, consumers’ desire for dining out and travel is growing. According to a survey report jointly released by the China Travel Academy and Trip.com Group on March 19, Chinese are longing for tours across the country, with Yunnan, Hainan and Shanghai among the top destinations.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in bailout, Business, bustling, catering business, China Travel Academy, compliance, coronavirus control, coupons, crisis, cutting taxes, dining out, dinnertime, eateries, electricity fees, employee, epidemic, expenses, Fujian Province, Fuzhou Super Dinner Co. Ltd., Government, gymnasiums, Hainan Hotel and Catering Industry Association, Hainan Province, house rent, industry, Italian style chain restaurant, jiangsu province, Liaoning province, local governments, movie theaters, nationwide, novel coronavirus, offers, prevention rule, production, reducing, reopened, Restaurant, resumed work, Revenue, roads, shandong province, Shanghai, Shenyang, shopping, shops, social insurance premiums, staff, stimulate, suppressed consumption, survive, top destinations, tourist spots, Uncategorized, voucher programs, wages, water, Yunnan Province, Zhejiang |
Leave a Comment »
31/03/2020
CHANGSHA, March 30 (Xinhua) — Railway repair is well underway after a train derailed in the city of Chenzhou in central China’s Hunan Province Monday that killed one and injured 127.
The accident happened in Yongxing County at 11:40 a.m. when the train ran into a landslide, leaving five carriages derailed. The power generation car caught on fire.
The fire has been put out and all of the injured have been sent to hospital, with four in serious condition, local authorities said.
There were 691 people on board the train when the derailment occurred, rescuers said. Except for those injured that were sent to hospital, other passengers took shelter in a nearby primary school until buses were sent to deliver them to a high-speed railway station.
“We volunteered to cook noodles and dress the wounds of several hundred passengers in the school until they were picked up,” said Liu Guijiao, a local villager.
He Zhiwen from China Railway Guangzhou Group told Xinhua that about 380 meters of tracks need repair. The engineering department has prepared 450 meters of tracks and 1,600 railroad ties.
Carriages will be removed after the repairs are completed, but the time for the traffic to resume has not been decided yet.
He said over 1,000 workers have been sent along with seven excavators, six railcars, two large tampers and three relief trains.
“We will try our best to resume traffic as soon as possible,” said an engineer on site.
The train, T179, was running from the city of Jinan, east China’s Shandong Province, to Guangzhou in south China’s Guangdong Province.
The group said 88 trains on the southern section of the Beijing-Guangzhou railway have been affected, including 54 suspensions, 22 returns and 12 detours.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in Beijing-Guangzhou railway, car, carriages, China Railway Guangzhou Group, derailed, engineering department, excavators, guangdong province, Guangzhou, Hunan Province, Jinan, Landslide, Rail repair, railcars, shandong province, train derails, Uncategorized, underway, Xinhua, Yongxing County |
Leave a Comment »
28/03/2020
A team of medical workers of Shandong Province attends a ceremony before leaving for the UK at Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport in Jinan, east China’s Shandong Province, March 28, 2020. A medical team of Shandong Province left for the UK to help fight against the COVID-19. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)
Source: Xinhua
Posted in COVID-19, fight, Jinan, Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport, leaves, Medical team, shandong province, UK, Uncategorized |
Leave a Comment »
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
Posted in Beijing, China, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese President Xi Jinping, coronavirus, dwindle, Europe, Fujian, Guangdong, hubei province, Jilin, Liaoning, local, National Health Commission, Politburo, readies, shandong province, Shanghai, stimulus measures, Tianjin, U.S. President Donald Trump, Uncategorized, United States, virus cases, zhejiang province |
Leave a Comment »
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 