Poverty in rural areas in China must be the most critical point in the fight against Covid

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The worst is over — at least for now. With a 44.3% drop in the number of serious Covid patients and a 72% decrease in daily deaths compared to the first week of the year, China appears to have left behind the peak of the first major wave of the disease since the reopening promoted in December last year.

The data were revealed on Wednesday (25) by the National Health Commission, according to which there was a reduction in the number of visits to emergency rooms and so-called fever clinics, centers that receive and treat patients infected with the virus.

Having completed the first stage, the focus must now be on the rural area, where the lack of doctors and hospital infrastructure is a chronic problem.

China celebrated its first post-pandemic Spring Festival last weekend. The date is famous for representing the largest human migration on the planet – according to the Ministry of Transport, around 2.1 billion trips were made across the country this year, double that of 2022. It is also the moment when that most migrant workers leave the big cities and return to their villages of origin.

• Xi is aware of the risk and spent part of the holiday speaking with health workers and Covid patients. He urged doctors and nurses to resist the “fierce and serious” wave of the disease sweeping the country;

• “I am most concerned about rural areas and farmers. Medical facilities are relatively vulnerable in these parts of the country, making it more difficult to prevent [a Covid]. The challenge is more arduous,” he admitted in a call with residents of rural Sichuan province in southwest China.

Why it matters: if the wave of Covid in the big cities was already a challenge, the poverty of the Chinese countryside must represent the most critical sanitary point in the fight against the pandemic.

• As the Japanese-British newspaper Financial Times reported, effective drugs against the virus, such as Paxlovid, from Pfizer, are already in short supply in several hospitals in towns and cities in the interior, forcing many to turn to friends and relatives who live in Shanghai or in Beijing to access treatment;

• According to the BBC, demand for coffins in factories in rural areas has grown, while the real number of cases and deaths in these parts of the country remains uncertain.

what also matters

Xi Jinping sent a message to the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), held this year in Buenos Aires.

In a recorded video, he said that countries in the region “are important members of the developing world” and that he considers Celac “our main partner to increase solidarity among developing countries and promote South-South cooperation.”

The message arrives in the region in the midst of an imbroglio. Since last year, China has proposed a trade agreement with Uruguay, which calls into question the Mercosur joint negotiation rule. The proposal encountered strong resistance from Argentina and Brazil, with President Lula (PT) stating in Montevideo that he is open to an agreement with the Asian giant involving the entire bloc, but only after the conclusion of negotiations with the European Union.

Chinese engineer Ji Chaoqun has been sentenced to eight years in prison in the US after being found guilty of espionage. The sentence was revealed on Wednesday (25).

According to the Department of Justice’s Division of Homeland Security, Ji entered the country in 2013 on a student visa. Since then, he has functioned as a kind of “recruiter” for the Ministry of State Security in Jiangsu Province, identifying US engineers and scientists who could be recruited.

The Chicago prosecutor’s office responsible for the case caught sending at least eight profiles to Chinese intelligence, all of Chinese or Taiwanese naturalized Americans. There is no evidence that they actually collaborated with Ji.

keep an eye

Trip.com, a Singapore-based travel agency and one of the few foreign companies with a large operation in China, recorded an increase above pre-pandemic levels in ticket sales, attraction tickets, hotel reservations, excursions, travel insurance, among others. others, in the first four days of the Spring Festival.

• According to the company, the volume of tourist ticket reservations increased by 50% compared to the holiday in 2022;

• Confirming the improving trend, the Fliggy agency, part of the Alibaba conglomerate, said it had registered a 500% increase in domestic long-distance travel bookings, while the number of products related to international travel more than doubled.

why does it matter: it wasn’t just the neighboring countries and very dependent on Chinese tourism that suffered during Covid zero. International borders were closed, but internal circulation restrictions also severely impacted domestic tourism, which is only now starting to show signs of recovery. The sector will be crucial for the Chinese economic recovery, since until 2019 it represented around 11% of the entire national GDP.

to go deep

• The deadline to register for the Yenching Global Symposium selection runs until Tuesday (31). Organized by Peking University, the forum will bring together young leaders and academics to discuss post-pandemic “global risks, uncertainties and challenges”. (free, in English and Chinese)
• PUC Minas reopened until February 23 registration for the distance learning specialization “Contemporary China”. A pioneering initiative in Brazil, the training discusses political, economic and cultural issues in China. Classes start in March. (paid out)