Travel during the holiday week from October 1 to 7 is subdued as people have been urged to stay put in their cities. Covid control measures were tightened in the run up to the opening of the Communist Party's 20th national congress on October 16. Authorities are expecting the lowest number of train trips to be made – 68.5 million from September 28 to October 8 – in the holiday period since the pandemic began. Trains are the most popular way to travel medium and long distances in mainland China. Some 110 million train trips were taken during last year’s National Day holiday, down from 120 million the previous year. In 2019, before the pandemic, the number was 138 million. Tourism revenue in the holiday period in 2020 was down by 30% from the previous year, but retail sales went up by 5%, suggesting consumer confidence had rebounded after the country appeared to have contained the virus through measures like mass testing, contact tracing and quarantine. It was a different story last year, as outbreaks of the Delta variant dampened enthusiasm for travel and Beijing tightened restrictions after summer outbreaks in Jiangsu and Fujian. Millions of people employed by the government or state-owned enterprises were told not to leave their province. As a result, holiday travel spending fell by 4.7% from 2020 and the number of train trips was also down by 1.5%.
The Shanghai Institute of Virology, a collaboration between the Shanghai municipal government and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, was launched last week with renowned virologist Guan Yi appointed as its first Director. The institute is based at the university’s School of Medicine. It aims to become a world-leading virology research center by deepening cooperation and sharing in the field. The institute is expected to attract high-level innovative talent and accelerate breakthroughs in key core technologies. “The institute will focus on the world’s frontier virology research and aims to become a world-class virology research center,” said Guan, who has been dubbed “the virus hunter” for his work on identifying the animal origins of the viruses that cause SARS and MERS.
China's vaccine producer Sinopharm and Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) of the U.S. signed a cooperation framework agreement under which Sinopharm would be a dealer and exclusive commission agent of MSD's antiviral Covid-19 medicine in China. The two sides will also negotiate the feasibility of a technical transfer under the framework so that the drug Molnupiravir could be produced and provided in the Chinese mainland market. Application materials for approval of the drug in the mainland have been submitted. Under the cooperation framework, Sinopharm would obtain dealership and exclusive import rights of Molnupiravir. Sinopharm would actively promote the localization of production and provide treatment after MSD transfers the techniques in order to help China fight the pandemic. Molnupiravir is one of the two most used oral Covid-19 treatments, in addition to Pfizer's Paxlovid.
A number of cities in China have started offering free flu shots for the elderly and other vulnerable groups as experts said this winter’s flu season could be tough due to declining immunity against the disease and lingering threats posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Shen Hongbing, Deputy Director of the National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control, said that after two years of low influenza activity amid the pandemic, pre-existing immunity against the disease has dropped. “With autumn and winter approaching and the northern hemisphere entering its flu season, the risk of a rapid simultaneous spread of Covid-19 and other respiratory diseases, including flu, is high,” Shen said at the 2022 World Influenza Conference in September. Only 3.34% of the Chinese population received flu shots in the 2020-21 flu season.
Beijing police have arrested nine persons suspected of organizing carpooling to Beijing for passengers coming from Covid-19 risk areas in Tianjin and Hebei province. The investigation is continuing.
This overview is based on reports by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily, Global Times and South China Morning Post.
