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.