China yesterday reported almost 700 new COVID-19 cases, with more infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2 continuing to test the nation’s hardline approach as outbreaks spread beyond major cities.
China reported 699 cases — the highest daily tally since May 22 — after recording more than 1,000 infections over the weekend.
Most of the cases are in the Guangxi region in the south, which recorded 243 cases — taking its total since the outbreak there flared six days ago to 829 — and remote Gansu Province, which reported 231 new infections, taking the number of cases there in the past week to 953.
Photo: Bloomberg
Most of Gansu’s capital, Lanzhou, has been locked down for almost a week and a lockdown was imposed in at least two districts of Beihai, a seaside city in Guangxi, trapping more than 2,000 tourists.
Many of them are stranded on the popular tourist island of Weizhou, after authorities on Sunday banned anyone from going to or leaving the island, Hongxing News reported.
A woman who was vacationing in Weizhou said she boarded a ferry on Sunday to leave the island, but it cruised at sea for two hours before turning back after authorities refused to allow tourists to land in Beihai.
She is back on Weizhou, but worries about getting food and other essential items because the island is locked down and most businesses are closed, Hongxing News reported yesterday.
While Shanghai’s situation is less dire, officials in the city, which endured a bruising two-month lockdown during April and May, are taking no chances and rolling out a testing blitz in 13 of the city’s 16 districts that are home to about 22 million people.
The financial hub reported 23 cases. Daily cases in the city have dropped from highs reached earlier this month, but they have held in double-digits for two weeks and high-risk areas continue to be locked down.
Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, shut entertainment venues for seven days to control an outbreak that has grown to 35 cases since Friday.
Residents endured rain and wind at neighborhood testing stations on Friday and posted videos about the experience on social media.
Meanwhile, authorities in Guangzhou have apologized for breaking into the homes of people who had been taken to a quarantine hotel in the latest example of heavy-handed disease prevention measures.
State media said that 84 homes in an apartment complex in Guangzhou’s Liwan District had been opened in an effort to find any “close contacts” hiding inside and to disinfect the premises.
The doors were later sealed and new locks installed, the Global Times reported.
The Liwan District Government on Monday apologized for such “oversimplified and violent” behavior, the paper said.
An investigation has been launched and “relevant people” would be severely punished, it said.
China’s adherence to a “zero COVID-19” strategy, which requires mass testing, snap lockdowns and travel restrictions, has exacted a heavy economic and social toll.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has made zero tolerance for COVID-19 a hallmark of his rule, saying the nation will not pursue “herd immunity” because it would exact too much of a toll, particularly on China’s elderly, who have lower vaccination rates.
Additional reporting by AP
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or