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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pogeu Mahone who wrote (188244)	5/31/2022 6:14:28 PM
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Re <<Covid is over?>> Apparently, or indubitably, depending on implied cyber intonation bloomberg.com China Cases Drop Below 100 as Specter of Covid Zero Remains Covid cases drop below 100 for the first time since March Beijing official warns community case shows risk of resurgence 31 May 2022, 17:18 GMT+8 China’s daily virus cases fell below 100 for the first time since early March after months of strict curbs, though omicron’s contagiousness means the reprieve from infections and Beijing’s intensive Covid Zero response may only be temporary. The country reported 97 new cases for Monday, according to the National Health Commission. The financial hub of Shanghai, formerly the epicenter of China’s outbreak, reported 31 cases, as the city prepared to further loosen curbs. Beijing found 18, though the capital continues to see infections popping up in the community despite extensive contact tracing and isolation. China’s success comes after months of harsh restrictions to stamp out transmission, including an unprecedented lockdown of millions of Shanghai residents for nearly two months and stringent curbs on movement in other regions. But the zero-tolerance strategy has taken an enormous economic and social toll, upended global supply chains and stirred some of the strongest anti-government criticism in years. While China’s staunch pursuit of Covid Zero has contained this outbreak -- the worst since the early days of the pandemic -- the strategy is being challenged by more transmissible variants. Officials have been left scrambling to stamp out more frequent flareups before they can take hold, leaving China stuck in a cycle of costly lockdowns as the rest of the world learns to live with Covid. Residents queue for a Covid-19 swab test in Shanghai on May 30. Source: Bloomberg “Lockdowns slow spread and might even eliminate Covid for a period, but I can’t see how it’s sustainable to do again and again and again,” said Peter Collignon, an infectious disease physician and professor at the Australian National University Medical School in Canberra. Infections are likely to increase when cities reopen, he said. Even opening up after a lockdown can be complicated. Shanghai’s reopening has taken weeks, though the city is taking a major step forward by letting people in areas deemed low risk for Covid-19 move around the city freely and resuming road and public transportation from Wednesday. Beijing is allowing some workers to return to offices and shopping centers to reopen, while schools are closed and dining-in at restaurants remains banned. But officials on Tuesday said the southwestern district of Fengtai will require all residents to stay at home this week after one infection was found in mass testing. Bloomberg prognosis Resumption of activities has also come with more frequent testing, with residents in major cities across China subjected to tests at least once a week so authorities can identify transmission chains and roll out curbs before the virus has a chance to spread widely. The drop in case numbers is likely to bolster authorities’ confidence in Covid Zero at a crucial time, with President Xi Jinping set to seek an unprecedented third term at a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle. Top leaders have repeatedly warned against questioning the Covid strategy and many experts predict that the focus will be on maintaining stability until the conclave, after which the country may shift to a more sustainable longer-term policy. “With numbers trending down, the Chinese authorities can again state that they have handled the pandemic better than the rest of the world,” said Nicholas Thomas, an associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong. “This is particularly important in the lead up to the Party Congress and the Two Sessions next year,” he said, referring to meetings of China’s major political bodies. “In domestic terms, socially and politically it is worth it.” Still, challenges are mounting. Health officials have already warned that infection risk in the country’s northeast is growing after cases were found in cities along China’s border with North Korea. Some areas of the northeast port city of Tianjin are in lockdown after cases flared up and Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, has reported a growing number of infections. Local Beijing officials warned Tuesday that the discovery of community cases shows the risk of a virus resurgence. Shoppers walk through a mall in Beijing on May 30. Source: Bloomberg China’s current approach is causing great damage to the economy because the underlying condition for normalcy is certainty, and any sudden suspension of business and factories is a huge uncertainty, said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. A more cost-effective strategy would include boosting the elderly vaccination rate and acquiring more oral antiviral Covid drugs. “If there’s another outbreak coming, China will undoubtedly use the same radical approach,” said Huang. “It will be a long-lasting pain.” — With assistance by John Liu, Claire Che, Dong Lyu, and Davy Zhu (Updates to add details throughout.) The latest Covid updatesMake sense of the headlines and the outbreak's global response with the Coronavirus Daily. Sign up to this newsletter