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The news this week in Beijing was dominated by the discovery of a person infected with the omicron in Haidian, one of the city’s largest districts. It is the first case of community transmission of Covid-19 confirmed in the capital since October.
The fear of quarantines and changes in itineraries has made many people cancel trips ahead of the Chinese New Year, which starts next week.
According to the local government, the infected person in Haidian did not travel outside of Beijing or come into contact with any Covid patients.​
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She remained asymptomatic for more than ten days and visited several places with high traffic, such as restaurants, buses and shopping malls;
The source of the infection remains a mystery, but the city’s Centers for Disease Control speculated that the first person infected would have received a package from Canada with traces of the virus on the package.
Canadian health officials countered the claim, saying it was “highly unlikely” that someone could become infected through physical contact with a package in transit for days.
In addition to the omicron case, the city also reported an infection with the delta variant, this time in the wealthy Chaoyang district. The local government has not yet given further details about the discovery.
Why it matters:
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The Winter Olympics start in less than three weeks, and China still had hopes of showing the world its ability to host the event in a framework of absolute control of the pandemic. Localized outbreaks make this task more difficult;
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Sources I spoke to privately do not rule out the possibility of tougher rules to reduce movement and crowding. This, however, would only be implemented after the Chinese New Year and the Olympics.
what also matters
An anesthesiologist was arrested in China on Tuesday (18) after doing a live exposing the private parts of a patient during a gynecological procedure. The case took place in Shandong province, in the east of the country.
According to netizens who had access to the images, the patient had no idea that she was being filmed. Colleagues of the anesthesiologist noticed the transmission, but did not stop it.
The platform Bilibili (a kind of Chinese YouTube), on which the broadcast took place, said it immediately blocked the account and sent details to law enforcement authorities. The company said it will cooperate with the investigations.
a Canadian group cybersecurity analyst claimed that the Chinese health app used by athletes at the Olympic Games contains several security holes.
According to Citizen Lab, linked to the University of Toronto, the system has encryption flaws and even a line of code with censored political terms.
Known as MY2022, the app is a special version for athletes of the health codes used daily by the population. With it, it is possible to determine exactly the places and times visited by each person, which facilitates the tracing of contacts when there are outbreaks of Covid.
Citizen Lab says it alerted the Olympics Organizing Committee about the flaws in early December, but received no response. The app was updated in January, but the loopholes have not been resolved. China has not commented on the allegations.
According to a survey, 83% of Chinese people trust the country’s institutions. The data are from a global survey conducted annually by the Edelman Trust Barometer.
The results contradict the trend in the rest of the world, where public confidence has been falling: Germany (down from 53% to 46%), Australia (from 59% to 53%), Netherlands (from 63% to 57%), USA ( from 38% to 43%) and South Korea (from 37% to 42%).
In China, growth was 11 percentage points. Edelman says the result is not only linked “to economic perceptions, but also to a greater sense of predictability about Chinese policy, particularly the pandemic”.
In the West, economic recessions and the sense of out of control in the containment of Covid are among the main causes for drops in the indices.
Keep an eye
China is developing new rules for access to guarantee funds by contractors and real estate developers, Reuters news agency reported.
The measure aims to alleviate the cash crisis in civil construction caused by regulatory restrictions since Evergrande began to have problems meeting tax obligations.
A draft of the new regulation is expected during the Two Sessions, which begin in the first week of March.
Why it matters:
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With simpler mechanisms, the new legislation should help companies in the sector pay off debts and hire more suppliers.
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Beijing wants an orderly reversal of restrictions on credit and licensing, both implemented by provincial governments as a precaution against the possibility of Evergrande going bankrupt.
to go deep
- The Brazil-China Business Center (CEBC) launches on the 26th an unprecedented study on the Chinese e-commerce market and how Brazilian companies can explore the area. The data presentation event is open for registration. (free, in Portuguese)
- For decades, the Hong Kong government ignored waste disposal in the city. The South China Morning Post tells in this report how the problem is getting out of control and can no longer be put off. (porous paywall, in English)
- Since the closing of the borders, entering China is an expensive, bureaucratic and unpredictable task. Sixth Tone explains in this report how the situation has worsened with the emergence of the omicron and the Covid outbreaks across the country (free, in English)
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