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With an average of 50 new cases of Covid a day, Beijing has tightened the control of circulation in the city and is trying to adopt measures to avoid an isolation like that of Shanghai.
- The city decided to close the 60 busiest subway stations and stopped the circulation of 158 bus lines;
- The face-to-face return to schools after the holiday week that ended on Wednesday (4) was postponed indefinitely.
- Universities will ban students from leaving campuses (even for medical reasons) and have restricted staff at these institutions from working face-to-face;
- Restaurants and bars are prohibited from opening to the public. There is control on the number of couriers and private drivers to avoid travel between districts.
Bracing for a possible explosion of cases, the capital also renovated and reactivated a quarantine hospital with more than 1,000 beds in Xiaotangshan. The place brings back difficult memories for those who lived here in 2003: it was there that most of those infected with the SARS virus were taken.
Beijing has created a mental health support app to help those struggling with the stress of restrictions. The tool features articles on anxiety, depression, channels of music to relax, online games and a hotline with psychotherapists.
City government spokesperson Xu Hejian said the number of confirmed cases in this wave of Covid exceeded the episode involving the Xinfadi market in June 2020, until then the worst outbreak in the capital. He called the situation “very challenging”.
why it matters: Beijing completed three rounds of testing across all of its 21.5 million people last week, and Covid numbers appear to have reached stability, albeit at levels far above China’s tolerated. But there is reason for moderate optimism: officials said they had discovered the source of the current Covid outbreak, which could help to better trace contacts and bring cases to zero in the coming days.
what also matters
A building in the city of Changsha, central China, collapsed last Friday. At least two people died and dozens were missing.
The 700-storey building was undergoing renovations and the suspicion is that the contractor involved in the work had forged documents and added “pulls” in the construction without authorization from the local civil defense. At least nine people have been detained so far, according to city police.
The case attracted national attention and leader Xi Jinping himself called for an in-depth investigation to discover the causes of the collapse. The operations in the area have been closely followed by state media, which, on Thursday (5), showed live the rescue of a survivor after almost 132 hours trapped in the rubble.
Twenty-three percent of European companies are considering leaving China and migrating business to another country. The survey was released by the European Chamber of Commerce in the country and the results represent the highest number in more than a decade (previously, the historical average was around 7%).
The data reflects the difficulties imposed on businesses with the strict measures to combat Covid-19.
- More than three-quarters of companies reported a negative impact of lockdowns and quarantines on business results;
- 60% of respondents say they have negatively revised profit forecasts for 2022;
- 78% believe that the so-called Covid 0 strategy makes China a less attractive destination for investments.
keep an eye
With a modest reduction in the number of daily cases of Covid-19, officials in Shanghai decided to allow some regions with fewer confirmed cases to release residents for limited travel.
Starting next week, residents of Jinshan, Fengxian, Chongming, Qingpu and Songjiang districts will be able to move freely within their districts and be allowed to visit supermarkets and hospitals. Public transport will also be partially restored.
why it matters: although the news serves as an encouragement to the residents of the city, the release reaches a small number of people. The announced districts are away from the center, which reduces the possibility of widespread transmission of the virus.
In the rest of Shanghai, Covid remains a challenge: 73 new cases were found in routine testing on Thursday alone, an indication that total control of the number of infections is still a complicated and distant goal.
to go deep
- The Shumian platform launched on Thursday (5), another episode of the Cafezinho podcast. The edition comments on the lockdown in Beijing and the terrorist attacks that killed Chinese citizens in Pakistan (free, in Portuguese)
- The Confucius Institute launched a contest that will award the best videos reporting the participants’ relationship with the Chinese language. More information on the Instagram page (free, in Portuguese)
- Tsinghua University’s master’s program, Schwarzman Scholars, will host on Wednesday (11), a recruitment event for Brazilian students. The scholarship selects young global leaders. (free, in Portuguese)
