Two of Beijing’s central city districts – Xicheng and Dongcheng – conducted universal nucleic acid testing for all residents, nearly 2 million people. Beijing has recorded more than a dozen cases since the first in the current outbreak emerged in suburban Daxing district on January 17. The 1.6 million residents of Daxing district were prohibited from leaving Beijing, as two Covid-19 cases linked to a new virus variant first found in Britain were identified. The Ronghui residential compound in Daxing’s Tiangongyuan subdistrict was declared a coronavirus hotspot. Over 24,000 residents of the compounds are required to quarantine in their homes. Meetings of 50 or more people in the district have been banned, while “weddings should be postponed and funerals simplified,” the Daxing government said. Beijing’s subway operator shut down the Tiangongyuan station located nearby the compound where the Daxing patients live.

Beijing is conducting nucleic acid testing among employees in key and “high-risk” industries, including cold chain, farm markets, restaurants, food delivery, public transport and daily life services, as part of ramped up efforts to find asymptomatic and imported cases. As of January 24, the city had conducted 17.46 million tests on its population with an average daily testing size of 415,680. Maximum daily testing capacity has reached 1.43 million. Beijing has a permanent resident population of 21 million.

People in Beijing’s rural areas have already been tested, covering 1.92 million residents in 396 villages. All results have come back negative. To better understand the outbreak’s source, the city has started human serum testing for all travelers who have arrived in Beijing from overseas since December 10. Shanghai designated the Salvo hotel in downtown Huangpu district as a medium-risk area for the virus’ spread – the second in the city – after six locally transmitted, confirmed cases were reported on January 21. Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, detected 30 positive results for coronavirus from its third round of nucleic acid testing of its over 10.25 million residents, 25 of whom were already in centralized quarantine centers before testing positive.

As the number of Covid-19 cases is rising in rural areas, the National Health Commission (NHC) announced that  people intending to travel home to rural areas during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday must provide a negative  coronavirus test taken within seven days of starting their trip. People returning to the countryside should also isolate themselves at home for 14 days and take nucleic acid tests every seven days. About 1.7 billion passengers trips are expected during this year’s 40-day travel period around Spring Festival, which falls on February 12. That is down by 40% compared to 2019, before the outbreak of the virus, but a 10% increase on last year, according to the Ministry of Transport. The projected daily number of passenger trips – about 40 million a day – are double the current volume, putting the country’s disease control work to the test. Feng Zijian, Deputy Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, suggested the public avoid crowded places or dining in public spaces during the holiday. “The length of time spent on shopping at supermarkets or eating at restaurants is suggested to be capped at under two hours,” he added. 

A WeChat-based mini-program for checking health codes in Beijing has started to show users’ Covid-19 vaccination status in preparation for a de facto immunity passport, though many uncertainties remain about its implementation, according to the China Daily. Those who have received the first dose of the vaccine have found that their app has added a line u

As China is preparing to start vaccinations of the general public, more Covid-19 cases were reported in Hebei, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin provinces. In Jilin, a health products marketer coming from Heilongjiang was revealed to be a super-spreader, infecting more than a hundred people during a couple of seminars he gave at health clubs. The infected people are mostly middle-aged and elderly, with an average age of 63 and the oldest being 87. Jilin has become one of the provinces in China worst-hit by the current outbreaks. 

On January 18, China reported 118 newly confirmed cases: 43 in Jilin, 35 in Hebei, 27 in Heilongjiang, one in Beijing and 12 imported from abroad. The total number of cases in Hebei province has now risen to more than 804. There are now four high-risk areas in China, three in Hebei and one in Heilongjiang. A few cases have also been reported in Beijing and in Sichuan province. A total of about 28 million people have been put under lockdown. 

In China, vaccinations for the general public against Covid-19 are expected to start around Spring Festival, which begins on February 12. So far, China has administered over 9 million shots of vaccine to people deemed at high risk of contracting the disease, including workers in customs, medicine and healthcare, the cold chain industry, public transportation, and produce and seafood markets. The rollout will gradually cover other demographics including the general public, Zeng Yixin, Vice Chairman of the National Health Commission (NHC) said. The public can receive the vaccine free of charge, he added. An inactivated vaccine developed by the China National Biotec Group, a subsidiary of Sinopharm, is used. It has shown to have a 79.34% efficacy in stage-3 clinical trials. According to Cui Gang, a senior official at the National Health Commission’s Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control, China has established 25,392 vaccine locations across the country.  

The Disease Prevention and Control Bureau advises people not to travel during the Spring Festival holidays unless absolutely necessary. The travel period lasts from January 28 till March 8. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, said that travel would be “significantly lower than in normal years” and there is “relatively strong uncertainty” about the passenger volume. Foxconn told the Global Times in Shenzhen it is offering “the highest salary” of CNY29 per hour to incentivize workers to stay during the holidays. As many migrant workers plan to return home for the holidays early to avoid potential lockdowns, there have been reports of labor shortage in some manufacturing hubs. There is also concern that workers may be unable to return to work on time after the holidays due to restrictions.

For the first time since May last year, China recorded another Covid-19 death. No details of China’s 4,635^th  death were provided except that it occurred in Hebei province, where China’s worst outbreak in months is taking place. More than 22 million people are in lockdown in Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang, all in Hebei province.   Vehicles and people in the three cities are not allowed to leave, unless necessary. Langfang’s Gu’an county, neighboring Beijing’s Daxing district, where Beijing’s Daxing International Airport is located, has imposed seven-day quarantine on its entire 500,000 inhabitants and rolled out free nucleic acid tests to residents, after one Covid-19 patient who works in the capital was reported. Residents from other cities in Hebei were encouraged not to enter Beijing amid the outbreak.

Meanwhile, a 13-person team of the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in China to study the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic. Two other members remained behind in transit in Singapore after tests showed they had coronavirus antibodies in their blood. After staying 14 days in quarantine, team members will perform two weeks of field studies starting in Wuhan where the first Covid-19 cases were reported in December 2019. “It is okay for WHO experts to come to Wuhan as we also want to know where the virus came from and what the source was. But the investigation should also be carried out in other countries, especially in the U.S., where multiple types of the virus have been identified, to achieve more accurate results,” Yang Zhanqiu, Deputy Director of the Pathogen Biology Department at Wuhan University, told the Global Times.

More and more countries are receiving Chinese vaccines. At least 20 countries have purchased Covid-19 vaccines developed by Chinese manufacturers including Sinovac, Sinopharm and CanSino. The Presidents of Serbia, Turkey and Indonesia were already vaccinated with Chinese vaccines. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a CoronaVac injection produced by Sinovac as the country agreed to buy 50 million doses. Indonesian President Joko Widodo also received the first dose of CoronaVac, while Serbian President Aleksandar  Vučić and Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh received Sinopharm’s vaccine.

Hebei province entered “wartime” mode after recording  new Covid-19 cases and the provincial capital Shijiazhuang performed city-wide testing of its 11 million inhabitants. The province has put in place various Covid-19 prevention measures including controls on highways passing through Hebei leading to Beijing and other provinces, stopping sales of railway tickets to Beijing, suspending classes in schools, implementing closed-off management in residential communities in Shijiazhuang, and taking nucleic acid tests. On January 7, Shijiazhuang went into lockdown and all people and vehicles in the city are not allowed to leave. A total of 364 positive cases were discovered among the 13 million residents from Shijiazhuang and Xingtai in Hebei who had undergone a first round of nucleic acid tests. On January 10, the Chinese mainland confirmed 103 Covid-19 cases in one day,  the steep?est increase in a single day in more than five months. Gene sequencing showed the virus strain belongs to a European branch and probably came into the country through Shijiazhuang airport. Supermarkets and shopping malls in Shijiazhuang closed their doors and switched to online sales using contactless delivery.

Authorities and experts have urged the public to restrict unnecessary movement and gatherings during the Lunar New Year holiday to help prevent and control Covid-19 ahead of the annual peak travel season in China. Employees are encouraged to spend the holiday where they work instead of returning to their hometowns, and people are to avoid traveling abroad, according to a circular released by the central Covid-19 response task force. It is recommended that private gatherings, including family banquets, be limited to 10 people. Transport authorities should take measures to avoid mass gatherings of travelers at airports and bus and train stations while implementing epidemic control and prevention measures such as temperature testing. 

Chinese glass producers are working to provide much-needed vials for coronavirus vaccines, with a potential boom in demand in China and abroad. Some companies’ annual production capacity has expanded to tens of billions of units. China’s demand for at least eight billion vaccine vials a year has created a supply shortage. Borosilicate glass comes in three categories: low-borate, neutral and high borosilicate. The main difference is the ability to resist temperature changes. In markets like the U.S. and Europe, neutral borosilicate glass packaging has been made mandatory for all vaccines and biological agents. Limited capacity for the neutral variety led to the wide use of low borosilicate glass vials in China. The use of the neutral variety in China is only about 10%, lower than in countries like the U.S., Germany and Japan. Shandong Pharmaceutical Glass’ annual vial production stands at 26 billion units, including three billion for low and neutral borosilicate glass. Vials have been designated as strategic materials as part of the Covid-19 vaccination effort. Chongqing Zhengchuan Pharmaceutical Packaging told the Global Times it has more than 800 manufacturing machines that can make three billion neutral and low borosilicate vials, which is adequate to meet market demand, the Global Times reports.

Two Chinese firms announced they had developed a rapid testing kit for the new B117 variant of Covid-19, initially reported by the UK on December 14, and both said that results are available in one hour. A unit under China’s genetics firm BGI produced a test kit using the ARMS-qPCR method designed for specific amplification of the core mutation site N501Y of the B117 strain, combined with fluorescent probe signals, to quickly identify wild-type and mutant virus strains. Sansure Biotech, based in Changsha, Hunan province, also said it has developed a testing kit that can rapidly identify the new virus strain. China has so far reported two imported cases of the new variant, one in Shanghai and one in Guangdong province. 

Beijing extended the Covid-19 observation period for inbound travelers to 21 days following sporadic locally-transmitted cases. When passengers on an inbound flight are found positive or are diagnosed positive during isolated observation, passengers who took the same flight should be under isolation or stay at home for another seven days after a 14-day observation period. For those who do not test positive at the customs-entry stage or during the observation period, health monitoring will be strictly implemented for another seven days after the 14-day observation. Meanwhile, inbound travelers may enter Beijing 21 days after they enter China at another port of entry.

Beijing has entered a state of emergency after new Covid-19 cases were discovered around Christmas. Beijing has taken measures, including large-scale nucleic acid tests, since the recent cases came to light. Altogether 113 domestically transmitted confirmed Covid-19 cases were reported in China from December 1 to 30, up from around 60 in November. Authorities said the clustered outbreak in Beijing was basically under control, but that the virus battle is not over yet. Beijing reported 26 locally transmitted confirmed cases between December 18 and January 2. Hebei province reported five confirmed cases and 13 silent carriers over the weekend. On January 4, two cases were confirmed in Beijing, six in Liaoning province and one in Heilongjiang province. In Beijing, Tianjin and in at least five other cities, traces of the virus have also been detected on the outer packaging of auto parts for Daimler cars. 

Vaccination of the key groups of people has started in Beijing and other cities. The Chinese capital has set up 220 vaccination sites where more than 70,000 people have received shots so far. The city expects to complete the first vaccination round of nine key groups by February 12, when the Chinese Spring Festival starts. In the first phase, people between 18 and 59 years old in risk categories are vaccinated. Persons to be vaccinated include quarantine inspection workers at customs dealing with imported cold-chain products, porters at entry ports and transport workers. Individuals who plan to travel abroad for work and personal reasons, medical workers, and government officials are also included. Pregnant and breast-feeding women and those with underlying diseases such as severe allergies, diabetes and hypertension are not suited for vaccination now, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control (CDC).

A vaccine developed by the Beijing National Biotec Group affiliated with Sinopharm received conditional market approval from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) on December 31 for use by the general public. Vaccination will be free of charge. The interim results of its phase-3 clinical trials show 79.34% efficacy against Covid-19, meeting the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the NMPA. It is an inactivated vaccine, which means the virus was grown in a lab and then killed. The vaccine had already been approved for use in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain on December 9 and 13 respectively. 

More than 4.5 million people have already been vaccinated in China, and in a plan released by Chinese health authorities, another 50 million people in high-risk groups will be inoculated by February 5. China’s inactivated vaccines are expected to be provided to the public as early as April. But even after vaccination, Chinese health authorities still suggest people maintain personal protective measures, including wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands frequently as no vaccine is 100% efficient. China will erect an immunity barrier against Covid-19 via high vaccination rates, Wang Huaqing, Chief Expert on the immunization program at the Chinese CDC, told a press conference. Accepting vaccination is not only a right, but also an obligation to prevent the epidemic, Wang noted. After 13 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed within two weeks, Beijing municipality has advised residents against traveling outside the city, and put caps on the number of people allowed in gatherings or public places. Some cities cancelled New Year celebrations.

Chinese vaccine producer Sinovac’s inactivated Covid-19 vaccine CoronaVac shows 91.25% efficacy in phase-3 clinical trials in Turkey, the Turkish Health Ministry announced. Turkey has signed a contract to buy 50 million doses Sinovac’s vaccine. Around 13,000 volunteers in Turkey participated in the phase-3 clinical trials. All the 50 million doses are scheduled to arrive in Turkey by the end of February. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the world’s first country to offer Chinese-developed Covid-19 vaccines to all citizens and residents for free as part of its efforts to achieve nationwide immunity against the coronavirus. 

A groundbreaking ceremony for a Covid-19 vaccine production base was held in late December at the Daxing Biomedical Industrial Base in Beijing. The vaccine will be based on the non-replicating viral vector using chimpanzee adenovirus, the first of its kind in China. The vaccine to be made at the base was developed by Professor Zhang Linqi of Tsinghua University and Professor Zhou Dongming of Tianjin Medical University, and it will be produced by Walvax Biotechnology Co. Mass production is expected to reach 200 million doses per year by mid-2021.

A thorough epidemiological investigation into the recent  cases of Covid-19 reported in Beijing’s Shunyi district,  showed that the sudden spike was caused by an imported case from Indonesia, a 28-year-old man who entered  Fujian province in late November and later traveled to Beijing’s Shunyi district. The man was sitting next to a confirmed patient from Indonesia on the flight from Indonesia to Fujian. He went to Beijing on December 10 after completing his 14-day quarantine in Fujian and testing negative. He later tested positive in a serum antibody test and negative in another nucleic acid test on December 26. He was admitted to Beijing Ditan Hospital, where his nucleic acid test turned positive on December 28.

According to the Global Times, Eurasian countries have shown great interest in mutual recognition of an international digital health code proposed by China to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. “Countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and Armenia have expressed a lot of interest in introducing such a mechanism to push forward global cooperation on the Covid-19 QR code from medical and information technology perspectives,” Ge Jian, Chairman of the General Council of the Eurasian Economic Cooperation Organization (EECO), told the Global Times. Ge said the QR code would act as a “digital passport” and may become a necessary step to revive cross-border personnel exchanges and the resumption of work in the post-Covid era, especially between countries establishing “green channels” or “fast lanes.” He emphasized the significance of such a mechanism, as travel bans and restrictions have greatly hindered global economic recovery. Countries including Australia, Japan and Singapore have all used tracking apps to trace peoples’ movements and potential exposure to Covid-19, but so far there is no mutual recognition mechanism for the apps. Meanwhile, China announced the suspension of flights to and from the UK due to a new coronavirus strain. “Considering the specific nature of the virus and its possible impact, in order to protect the health of Chinese and foreign personnel, China has suspended flights to and from the UK after a full assessment and taking into account the practices of other countries,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced.

Research and development of coronavirus vaccines in China is nearing its conclusion, while preparations are in place for their mass production, said the head of China’s Covid-19 vaccine development task force Zheng Zhongwei, who is also Director of the National Health Commission’s Development Center for Medical Science and Technology. There are five domestically developed vaccines undergoing phase-3 clinical trials, the final stage before attaining approval from authorities. Ten others are in earlier-stage trials. Despite taking a leading role in Covid-19 vaccine R&D, China is not rushing to compete with other countries in this field, Zheng said. Vaccines should be evaluated according to many criteria, including their safety, effectiveness, accessibility and affordability, before they are approved for market use. Although no Covid-19 vaccine has officially been approved by China’s top drug regulator for large-scale use, several vaccines undergoing phase-3 clinical trials have already been put into emergency use since June for priority groups such as front-line health workers, inspection and quarantine officers at ports of entry, and people traveling overseas for work. No serious adverse events have been reported during the process. As phase-3 trials of the Chinese vaccines are conducted abroad, the pace of these trials may be affected by many factors, such as how quickly participants are enrolled, the China Daily reports.  

Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co will buy at least 100 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from Germany’s BioNTech for use on China’s mainland next year. It is, however, still waiting for approval for its use in China. BioNTech granted Fosun Pharma a license to exclusively develop and commercialize its vaccine products based on BioNTech’s proprietary technology platform. For the initial supply of 50 million doses, Fosun will make an advance payment of €125 million by December 30. The remainder will be paid after regulatory approval. The initial supply will come from BioNTech’s production facilities in Germany. Separately, Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co  aims to have enough capacity to produce at least 100 million doses of a vaccine candidate from British partner AstraZeneca by year-end, the Shanghai Daily reports. China plans to vaccinate 50 million people before the 2021 Spring Festival that will fall on February 12 – with the first doses administered by January and the second by February 5.

Meanwhile, two locally-transmitted cases were detected in Beijing at a Hanting hotel in the Dashanzi area. They had come into contact with an imported case quarantining at the hotel. The residents of the surrounding residential areas have all been tested and are not allowed to leave Beijing without a negative test result.

China arranged 351 chartered flights this year to bring more than 73,000 citizens home from 92 countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Cui Aimin, Director General of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of Consular Affairs, said. However, commercial flights remain the major channel for the return of citizens. He urged the governments of other countries and airlines to keep “corridors in the air” open to allow Chinese citizens to return home. About 10,000 Chinese nationals have taken flights back to China every day recently. Ahead of the Spring Festival holiday in February, Cui advised Chinese to reduce non-essential trips. He urged Chinese nationals abroad to avoid long-distance travel, especially across borders, and said those in China should avoid traveling abroad to minimize the risk of being infected or stranded during their trips, the China Daily reports.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has decided to extend the time passenger flights are suspended if five or more passengers test positive for the coronavirus. Until further notice, such air routes will be suspended for two weeks, one week longer than previously required. Flights would be suspended for four weeks if 10 or more passengers are tested positive, the same as previously. The measure was taken to lower the number of infected passengers arriving in China. Last week, a Sichuan Airlines’ cargo pilot was confirmed as an imported case. China introduced circuit breaker measures for inbound air flights on June 8, saying that the circuit breaker will be triggered when five passengers traveling on a flight operated by an airline test positive for the virus. The  number of suspended flights increased from 3 in June and 7 flights in July to more than 20 flights in August and September, and then to 52 flights in October, according to Han Guangzu, an official from CAAC. By November, the number of suspended flights has come down to around 20. Han said a total of 259 inbound flights have been suspected since the scheme was enforced. In addition, domestic airlines are stepping up efforts to curb imported cases, the Global Times reports. 

China has implemented a green channel policy to facilitate travel between countries. Since China and South Korea took the lead in implementing the fast track policy on May 1, China has gradually opened the program to Germany, Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan and other countries. China has further expanded the scope of application of the “green channel” to cover personnel from almost all countries and all sectors since July, including those involved in preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics. To date, business and technical personnel from more than 60 countries have entered China through the fast track. 

Meanwhile, China has proposed the establishment of an international mechanism of health codes allowing for resumption of international exchanges while ensuring public health. The purpose is to allow everyone to go abroad when necessary in the near future with the code. Since February this year, there have been approximately 21,000 inbound passenger flights, of which approximately 8,000 were operated by foreign airlines and 13,000 by Chinese airlines. To prevent cross-border transmission of the coronavirus, all Chinese and foreign passengers bound for China are required to take nucleic acid and IgM anti-body tests. So far, the double negative test measure has been applied in more than 160 countries.

In search for the origin of the coronavirus, a 10-member team of international experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to visit China in January on a six-week mission, including two weeks of quarantine on arrival in China. The Covid-19 outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, but where an epidemic is first detected does not reflect where it started, according to the WHO. Evidence reported in various countries, such as Italy and Spain, showed that the virus existed much earlier than Wuhan’s first reported case in December 2019. The virus’ genome was found in waste water samples in Spain dating from March 2019.