Tag: Coronavirus Reopenings

Today’s Top News: A Makeshift Wagner Memorial in Moscow, and More

Media Library
todays top news a makeshift wagner memorial in moscow and more

The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven’t already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. The Headlines brings you the biggest stories of the day from the Times journalists who are covering them, all in about 10 minutes. Hosted by Annie Correal, the new morning show features three top stories from reporters across the newsroom and around the world, so you always have a…

Online Anger Over China’s Covid Pivot Shows Widening Social Split

Chin@Strategy
online anger over chinas covid pivot shows widening social split

Tao Siliang, a member of China’s Communist elite, recently criticized Sima Nan’s attacks for contradicting the party’s new direction. On Thursday, Weibo, a social media site, moved quickly to shut down or suspend more than 1,000 accounts, including that of a prominent nationalist, Kong Qingdong, for waging personal attacks against experts and scholars. “At this moment, what we need most is to abide by the 44-year-old parable: ‘Look forward in unity,’ do not challenge, tear apart, especially denounce or abuse,” the official newspaper of Zhejiang Province, in China’s east, wrote…

America’s Covid Test Requirement For Chinese Is a Farce

Chin@Strategy
americas covid test requirement for chinese is a farce

Some public health experts have been quick to call out the new policy as useless in addressing the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, whose country has in place a similar testing requirement, called for the European Union to follow Italy’s lead in adopting the same policy but was denied by most member states on grounds of inefficacy. Indeed, without universal testing, contact tracing and masking mandates, selective reinforcement by geographic origin succeeds only in singling out the predominantly Chinese travelers and reviving rampant…

E.U. Urges Nations to Require Negative Covid Tests for Travelers From China

Chin@Strategy
e u urges nations to require negative covid tests for travelers from china

BRUSSELS — The European Union on Wednesday “strongly encouraged” its 27 member nations to require a negative Covid-19 test for travelers boarding flights from China to the region, amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the country and Beijing’s lifting of its draconian travel restrictions. The bloc’s recommendation, an attempt at a unified policy, came after three major European tourist destinations — France, Italy and Spain — as well as Britain, introduced testing and other requirements for travelers from China. The E.U. move would bring back a tough pandemic-era measure…

China to Drop Covid Quarantine for Incoming Travelers

Chin@Strategy
china to drop covid quarantine for incoming travelers

China on Monday announced that travelers from overseas would no longer be required to enter quarantine upon arrival, in one of the country’s most significant steps toward reopening since the coronavirus pandemic began. From Jan. 8, incoming travelers will be required to show only a negative polymerase chain reaction, or P.C.R., test within 48 hours before departure, China’s National Health Commission said. Limitations on the number of incoming flights will also be eased. The travel restrictions had isolated the world’s most populous country for nearly three years. Foreigners were essentially…

With ‘Zero Covid,’ China Proved It’s Good at Control. Governance Is Harder.

Chin@Strategy
with zero covid china proved its good at control governance is harder

A widely circulated WeChat article speculated that the shortage of fever medications reflected the government’s lack of preparation for loosening control. And if the government had shown the same political will that it had in implementing “zero Covid,” the article argued, it could have ensured there was ample supply of such medication. “It doesn’t care about the ordinary people, leaving them to fend for themselves and even delighting in their chaos,” the article said, and it urged officials to show up where the public most needed them to win back…

She Was Supposed to Be China’s Future. After ‘Zero Covid,’ She Wants to Leave.

Chin@Strategy
she was supposed to be chinas future after zero covid she wants to leave

[MUSIC] lulu garcia-navarro From New York Times Opinion, I’m Lulu Garcia-Navarro, and this is “First Person.” When Chinese President Xi Jinping took office a decade ago, he started talking about what he called the Chinese dream. xi jinping [SPEAKING CHINESE] lulu garcia-navarro The Chinese dream, he explained, meant Chinese people would find prosperity and economic opportunity in China under the Communist system. And the years that followed delivered on that promise. But Covid has put that dream in peril. Covid zero has shaken people’s faith in the government, and the…

As Officials Ease Restrictions, China Faces New Pandemic Risks

Chin@Strategy
as officials ease restrictions china faces new pandemic risks

As one country after another succumbed to outbreaks this year, China kept the coronavirus at bay, buying valuable time to prepare for the inevitable: a variant of the virus so shifty and contagious that China, too, would struggle to contain it. But rather than laying the groundwork for that scenario, China stepped up its commitment to “zero Covid,” deploying snap lockdowns and contact tracing. In the meantime, daily vaccinations fell to record lows. Critical-care beds remained in short supply, even as workers built testing booths and isolation facilities. Research on…

Major Covid Holdouts in Asia Drop Border Restrictions

Chin@Strategy
major covid holdouts in asia drop border restrictions

HONG KONG — After two and a half years of tight pandemic controls, some of Asia’s last holdouts are opening their borders, as they move to bolster their economies and play catch-up with a world that has largely learned to live with Covid. Hong Kong said on Friday that it would abandon mandatory hotel quarantine for people coming to the city starting next week, following a similar move by Taiwan. Japan said it would drop its daily limit on arrivals and fully open its doors to tourists on Oct. 11.…

Your Tuesday Briefing: Political Turmoil in Pakistan

Chin@Strategy
your tuesday briefing political turmoil in pakistan

Good morning. We’re covering political turmoil in Pakistan and schools reopening in the Philippines. Political tensions swell in Pakistan Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, was charged under the country’s antiterrorism act on Sunday. He is trying to stage a political comeback after he was ousted from power in April following a no-confidence vote. The charges followed a rally in Islamabad, the capital, where Khan condemned the recent arrest of one of his top aides and vowed to file legal cases against police officers and a judge involved in the…