Outbreak in China-Myanmar border area contained by quarantine and vaccination
Apr-06-2021 By : fcccadmin
Last week, China reported a new Covid-19 outbreak in Ruili in Yunnan province, bordering Myanmar. More than 48 confirmed and 37 asymptomatic cases were detected. Some of the patients are Myanmar citizens. The local CDC said the infection was most probably imported from Myanmar and is not related to earlier localized outbreaks in China. Meanwhile the whole population of Ruili has been tested and more than 1,320 close contacts of the patients have been quarantined in eight hotels. A large-scale vaccination campaign has also been launched in five counties and cities in an effort to build an immunity barrier. All residents in the city are required to quarantine at home for a week and will not be allowed to go out unless they have a special reason. The resurgence of Covid-19 in the area is thought to have been the result of illegal border crossing, prompting the local government to impose strict controls in the border area. Ruili on April 5 raised the risk levels in three areas to “high risk” and in six areas to “medium risk,” breaking the 42-day streak after the Chinese mainland declared on February 22 that there were no longer any medium- and high-risk areas.
China is ramping up its efforts to vaccinate 560 million people, or 40% of the population, by the end of June. Another 330 million people will be vaccinated by the end of the year, covering 64% of the total population. China’s daily vaccination capacity can reach 10 million doses as the vaccination campaign scales up. Given a daily average of 10 million doses, the national total would reach approximately 1 billion doses by the end of June, covering at least 500 million people if each completes two shots, close to the target of immunizing 40% of the population – 560 million people – by the end of June. Nearly 400,000 people in Shanghai can be vaccinated every day, the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention said. So far, almost 2.5 million people have received at least one shot, while more than 40,000 people have completed the vaccination with two shots.
Sinovac and Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines are likely to be included into the emergency use list of the World Health Organization (WHO) by the end of April as both companies have provided efficacy data from their phase-3 clinical trials compatible with the WHO standard. The WHO sent experts to investigate their production workshops in Beijing in February.
Meanwhile, the WHO published its 120-page report on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, based on a trip to China by international experts. They determined that some positive samples were found outside China before the first cases were identified in Wuhan, suggesting that Covid-19 originated elsewhere. The likelihood that the virus escaped from a lab was deemed very low. China has urged the WHO to continue the search for the origins of Covid-19 outside China and also to examine whether cold chain transportation played a role. The WHO said the SARS-CoV-2 virus most probably jumped from bats to humans via an intermediary animal. The Chinese government dismissed reports that it withheld data from the WHO team, as alleged in the Western press.
China should boost investment in core materials and technologies for making vaccines, including lipid nanoparticles (LNP) – which are scarce around the world right now – for making Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, Gao Fu, Director of the Chinese CDC said. Worldwide, there are currently only a few companies that supply LNP to vaccine makers, including Germany-based Evonik and Merck KGaA, and Canada-based Acuita, and many are running at their full capacity to meet the soaring demand. Only a few Chinese companies, including Luye Pharma Group, Stemirna, Cansino and Walvax have also been developing LNP. Several sectors in biomedical development have been receiving increased investments. “Ever since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been rising attention in the biomedicine economy, including in clinical research organizations in animal-based research, and contract development and manufacturing organizations developing viral vectors,” Zhu Jinqiao, Chairman of EFUNG Investment Management Enterprise, a venture capital firm focusing on biomedicine, told the Global Times. The approved vaccines in China so far are mainly inactivated vaccines which are built on established mature technology, and the country is also ramping up efforts in developing or importing mRNA vaccines as an alternative choice.
China provided quarantine services to approximately 125,000 foreigners coming to China in 2020, according to statistics released by the National Immigration Administration in January.
This overview is based on reporting by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.
Shanghai and Beijing welcome foreign residents to be vaccinated
Mar-30-2021 By : fcccadmin
Expatriates in Shanghai can register for Covid-19 vaccinations from March 29. They need to scan the “Jiankangyun” QR code, the Shanghai Health Commission announced. In Beijing, foreigners can apply through their employers, schools or residential communities. Shanghai and Beijing became the second and third city in China to offer vaccinations to foreign residents older than 18, following Wuhan, where expat residents aged between18 and 59 have been able to apply for inoculations starting this month. Meanwhile, China has already administered more than 100 million vaccine doses. The current vaccination rate in China is 5.76%, ranking 57th in the world.
In Shanghai, after scanning the QR code, expats will receive a confirmation on their phone, and can then visit the designated venue for the shot at the allotted time. They must wear masks, and show their passports and valid residence permits. They will have to sign a consent form and disclaimer before taking the vaccination. A doctor at the site will decide if they are fit for the vaccine after determining their health condition. A China-made inactivated vaccine will be used. Expats who have Chinese social insurance will get the shots for free while others have to pay around CNY100 per dose. The shots have to be taken twice with an interval of at least 14 days. Shanghai has also started vaccinating residents aged from 60 to 75.
Beijing’s Daxing district, with a population of about 1.8 million, started handing out coupons worth CNY8 to CNY30 to people having been vaccinated. The coupons can be used in supermarkets in the district. The measure is aimed at promoting vaccinations. The total amount of coupons will reach CNY200 million. Vaccinating in China has been slower than expected due to a lack of urgency among a public confident in the early success in curbing the virus, but China is now ramping up its vaccination campaign. China aims to vaccinate 40% of its population by the end of June. China’s daily output of Covid-19 vaccines has reached about 5 million doses, more than tripling the 1.5 million-dose daily production rate on February 1, according to Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xiao Yaqing. China’s mass vaccination campaign has entered the fast track with its daily inoculations leaping from 1 million to nearly 3 million within a week. It will ultimately reach 10 million a week.
Sinovac Biotech plans to expand its vaccine capacity to 2 billion doses per year, while Sinopharm could expand its production to 1 billion doses, and CanSino Biologics to 2 billion to 2.5 billion doses this year. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is actively coordinating efforts to expand production and ensure the supply of syringes and glass vials. As part of efforts to accelerate vaccination across the country, China is set to expand the number of vaccination venues from 20,000 to 50,000.
This overview is based on reporting by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.
China to ease border restrictions according to the Covid-19 situation in different countries
Mar-23-2021 By : fcccadmin
China is easing border restrictions to allow some foreigners back in, including those from the U.S., India and Australia, provided they have taken a Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccine. The country has been closed to most foreigners since last March to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Chinese embassies in about 20 countries have issued notices saying the country will open visa applications to select people who have taken a China-made vaccine. According to the new visa policy, foreign nationals and their family members traveling to the Chinese mainland to resume work need only to provide the documents required before the Covid-19 pandemic when applying for a visa. Foreign family members of Chinese citizens or permanent residents can apply for visas “out of emergency humanitarian needs” once their vaccination certificates are obtained. The new visa rule applies to those who had either had two doses of the vaccine or a single-dose at least 14 days before applying for the visa.
But while the requirements to apply for a Chinese visa have been slightly simplified, the procedure to board flights to China and the quarantine upon arrival have not. Passengers flying directly to the Chinese mainland still have to take a nucleic acid test and serum IgM anti-body test and apply for a green health code with the “HS” mark or a certified Health Declaration Form before boarding, and have to be quarantined upon arrival for two to three weeks. Applicants in Hong Kong who have received a Chinese vaccine are exempted from providing a negative nucleic acid test and health certification.
The country had administered 74.96 million vaccine doses as of March 20. China aims to vaccinate 40% of its 1.4 billion people by the middle of the year, according to He Qinghua, a National Health Commission official. “We do not exempt vaccinated people from testing and quarantine for the time being,” said Feng Zijian, Vice Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. But he said China will pay attention to international progress in developing “vaccine passports” and could adjust measures to control the epidemic after the domestic population reaches a high level of immunization. The relatively low rate of vaccination in China was one reason Feng cited for maintaining the current measures for overseas arrivals. He also noted concerns about how effective vaccines are against new variants of the virus.
China has approved five domestically-made vaccines for use in the country, but has yet to approve any foreign-made ones. China approved a recombinant protein subunit vaccine against Covid-19 for emergency use. It was developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Microbiology and Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical. It is currently in late-stage clinical trials in countries including Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Ecuador and Indonesia, with plans to inoculate 29,000 volunteers. It has already been approved for general use in Uzbekistan. Subunit protein vaccines contain purified pieces of the virus’s protein to train the immune system. These fragments are incapable of causing disease, making such vaccines very safe.
The number of flights entering and leaving Beijing is surging due to a loosening of quarantine policies for travelers, a sign of the gradual recovery of China’s transportation and tourism sectors after the pandemic. A total of 1,668 flights entered or left Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport on March 16, up 20.1% over March 9 and the highest so far in 2021, according to Chinese flight information provider VariFlight. Passenger load factors on March 16 at the two airports increased to 72%, up 28.6 percentage points from a week earlier. China Railway Beijing Group Co also said the volume of passengers entering Beijing by rail rose significantly on March 16 to 276,800, nearly 100,000 more than a day earlier. With two approaching holidays – Qingming Festival and Labor Day – domestic hotels are seeing more bookings. Chinese online travel agency Trip.com expects about 100 million domestic tourists to make trips during the Qingming Festival holiday.
China’s imported cold-chain food industry, once a center of attention over repeated Covid-19 cases, is bouncing back after a surge in consumption during and after the Chinese Spring Festival. Salmon from Norway and cherries from Chile are popular once again, the Global Times reports. Sales are picking up in restaurants and stores, and a full recovery is expected in the second half of the year. Norway exported 21,867 tons of seafood to China worth USD68.7 million so far this year, Victoria Braathen, Director for the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong at the Norwegian Seafood Council, said. Imported cold-chain food came under close scrutiny following rising numbers of reported Covid-19 cases since June 2020, when the coronavirus was detected on a chopping board used by a vendor of imported salmon at the Xinfadi market in Beijing. Some cherry importers are now trying to make up for losses caused by Covid-19. “The pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the cherry industry. Many people I know went bankrupt. But there are always profits and losses in business. I hope that the pandemic can be controlled this year, and as long as Chinese people still love imported cherries, there is an opportunity,” an imported cherry dealer told the Global Times.
A medical worker at a hospital’s quarantine ward in Xian, Shaanxi Province, was confirmed as a Covid-19 case on March 18, ending the Chinese mainland’s 31-days of zero new domestically-transmitted cases since February 15. An accidental exposure in the isolation ward caused the infection. The medical worker was responsible for collecting nucleic acid test samples of Covid-19 patients and carrying out laboratory tasks in the hospital. He had recently received his second vaccine dose. Zeng Guang, Chief Epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that coronavirus treatment hospitals are high-risk areas where infection of vaccinated medical staff could no be ruled out. The hospital has eight imported cases and five asymptomatic cases under quarantine.
This overview is based on reporting by the South China Morning Post, the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.
Obtaining Chinese visas simplified for foreigners vaccinated with Chinese vaccine and applying in Hong Kong
Mar-16-2021 By : fcccadmin
China has simplified its visa policy for foreigners applying to enter the Chinese mainland via Hong Kong who have received Chinese Covid-19 vaccines. The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong issued a notice on March 12 to exempt foreign visa applicants who have received a Chinese vaccine from providing health certificates. It is seen as a trial for China to explore vaccine visas and hopefully can be expanded to other places, the Global Times reports. According to the new Chinese visa policy, foreign nationals and their family members entering the Chinese mainland to resume work and production need to provide only the documents required before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and a valid vaccination certificate when applying for a visa. A nucleic acid test and the Health and Travel Record Declaration Form for Visa Application are no longer required. More than 60 countries have authorized the use of Chinese vaccines, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press conference on March 10. However, foreigners and Chinese citizens entering China still have to submit to a quarantine as it is still not certain that they can’t transmit the virus.
In the near future the measure could be expanded into a mutual recognition program with countries that use Chinese vaccines, for example, many countries in Southeast Asia, Tian Guangqiang, Assistant Research Fellow with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. Finally, people inoculated with Covid-19 vaccines produced by foreign manufactures would also be included. But to reach such mutual recognition, pre-certification issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) would be needed to make different countries trust each others’ vaccines, Tian said. The WHO is expected to recognize the vaccine from Sinovac Biotech by the end of March. Currently the U.S., UK and EU are also considering whether to introduce a digital passport that will allow citizens to show they have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
China has launched a Covid-19 vaccination certificate for its citizens planning cross-border travels, joining other countries issuing similar documents. As vaccines are globally being rolled out, a few countries including Bahrain have already introduced certificates identifying vaccinated people, and the European Union agreed to develop vaccine passports under pressure from tourism-dependent southern countries. The health certificate issued by China will have details about the holder’s Covid-19 vaccination, coronavirus test results and serum antibody results, the Department of Consular Affairs under China’s Foreign Ministry said on its website. The digital certificate is available for Chinese citizens via a program on Chinese messaging application WeChat. The certificate is being rolled out “to help promote world economic recovery and facilitate cross-border travel,” a Foreign Ministry Spokesman said. The certificate, which is also available in paper form, is thought to be the world’s first known “virus passport.” It is not immediately known with which countries China is talking to get its Covid-19 certificate recognized. It is currently only available for use by Chinese citizens and it is not yet mandatory.
A coalition of health and technology companies has launched the Vaccination Credential Initiative to show proof of vaccination. A digital pass called CommonPass is being created by The World Economic Forum, the Commons Project, the Rockefeller Foundation and 350 public and private sector leaders from 52 countries and regions. It is being tested by United Airlines. But the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed practical and ethical concerns over using a vaccination passport as a certificate for international travel. “In terms of technology, I believe that Chinese companies can build an international platform in just one week, but it is better that the WHO, rather than any country or regional organization, be the organizer to ensure the independence, fairness and data security of the platform,” Xiang Ligang, Director General of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times. The WHO could draft the rules, procedures and data format, while China is very willing to share experience and techniques in setting up such a platform, he said.
China is ramping up efforts to vaccinate 560 million people, or 40% of China’s population, by the end of June, and another 330 million people will be vaccinated by the end of the year, covering 64% of the total population. Beijing city authorities said that from January 1 to March 9 they had administered nearly 8.8 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines on about six million people, around one-third of its permanent resident population. China is aiming to vaccinate 70% to 80% of the population by mid-2022, Gao Fu, Director of the Center for Disease Control said. With four approved vaccines, China will vaccinate 900 million to 1 billion people to achieve herd immunity. A total of 64.98 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in China, which is a relatively low inoculation rate at 4.6 shots for every 100 people. The number is 32 for the U.S., 66 for the UAE and more than 108 for Israel.
China is to launch the “Spring Seeding Action” initiative to vaccinate Chinese passport holders abroad, either with Chinese or locally-approved Covid-19 vaccines. More than 50 countries already include Chinese nationals in their vaccination plans. Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said that China is providing vaccines to 69 developing countries for emergency use, and exporting vaccines to 43 countries, adding that China is willing to have discussions with other countries on the mutual recognition of vaccinations. China’s vaccine output could reach 4 billion doses in 2021, which will be enough for a massive inoculation program in China, while at the same time supplying overseas countries.
For domestic travel in China, as from March 16, people can travel freely by train across the country with a green health code and will not need to present a negative nucleic acid test certificate. The Chinese mainland has not seen a single locally transmitted Covid-19 case for more than 27 days after the local cluster outbreaks in Hebei, Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces were successfully brought under control before the Chinese Lunar New Year.
This overview is based on reporting by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.
China discusses vaccine passports, production of antibody test kits and eco-friendly face masks launched
Mar-09-2021 By : fcccadmin
The Chinese mainland had administrated 52.52 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of the end of February, inoculating about 3.56% of its population, Chinese top respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan said, adding that China plans to administer 40 doses per 100 people against Covid-19 by June. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75,236,003 doses have been administrated in the U.S. as of February 28. China is ramping up efforts to vaccinate 560 million people, or 40% of China’s population, by the end of June, and another 330 million people will be vaccinated by the end of the year, covering 64% of the total population, according to China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The accelerated vaccination campaign is aimed at catching up with the countries leading in vaccination rates as fast as possible to avoid an “immunization gap”. During a national planning session of the Chinese CDC last week, authorities clarified the vaccination goals for each province and assigned tasks to each region.
Several Chinese lawmakers and political advisors have proposed the issuance of digital vaccine travel certificates or “vaccine passports” to help people get life back to normal. “China could encourage the public to voluntarily get vaccinated and gradually issue a new passport for those who have been vaccinated,” Zhu Zhengfu, a prominent Chinese lawyer and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times. Business and travel visas could be issued to people with vaccine passports if they want to go to countries and regions where the Covid-19 epidemic has been effectively curbed, Zhu said. He also suggested that international arrivals could be exempted from the requirement of 14-day quarantine if they have a negative nucleic acid test report and the vaccine passport, while people in China would be allowed to travel freely within the country if they have a vaccine passport. Zhu also suggested the country promote mutual recognition of vaccine passports in the world to boost international tourism and economic exchanges. Iceland recently became the first country in Europe to issue and recognize Covid-19 vaccination certificates which it hopes will allow vaccinated individuals to travel freely within its borders and abroad. The governments of Denmark and Sweden have also announced they will develop a vaccine passport to be launched before June. But Pan Helin, Executive Director of the Digital Economy Research Institute at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told the Global Times that a vaccine passport is not feasible scientifically because it is hard for countries to reach common ground over the efficacy of different vaccines in a short time.
As countries around the world ramp up efforts to vaccinate hundreds of millions of people, Chinese companies that have been making test kits for Covid-19 are shifting focus to a new product expected to be in hot demand worldwide: antibody test kits to evaluate the efficacy of vaccines. Neutralizing antibody detection kits are used to evaluate the immune reaction to the vaccine, but they are not used in the traditional antibody detection process. The former tests are used to detect antibodies produced after a vaccination, while the latter versions are used to detect IgM and IgG antibodies produced spontaneously after an infection. Chinese leading producer of test kits Maccura Biotechnology Co told the Global Times that the kit is still being used for scientific research and has yet to be launched. “The product, after it is launched, will target those who have been vaccinated in a bid to understand the level of antibodies generated in their bodies, and whether they need to be vaccinated again,” said a source with the company. Those who have recovered from an infection can also take the test. In addition to Maccura Biotechnology Co, other companies such as Guangzhou-based test kit maker Wondfo Biotech Co, are pinning their hopes on antibody tests, which can be done by an individual rather than by professional medical organizations. Shanghai Geneodx, a subsidiary of Sinopharm, and Mindray announced that they have jointly developed a new test kit for evaluating the effectiveness of vaccines.
Chinese mask suppliers are taking the lead in promoting eco-friendly products in response to rising concerns over environmental pollution caused by mountains of used masks and other types of personal protective equipment (PPE). The international environmental protection organization OceanAsia in December said in a report that some 1.56 billion face masks entered the marine environment in 2020. Some Chinese suppliers, such as Health Box of Anhui province, now offer biodegradable masks. “Unlike the usual masks made of non-woven or melt-blown cloth, the new masks are made of polylactide, which is often sourced from cornstarch and straw, and therefore is more eco-friendly,” said Huang Yuhao, President of the company. These masks cost twice as much to produce as traditional ones, and prices are likely to stabilize as a result of mass production.
This overview is based on reporting by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.
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