Zhuang Pinghui
AsiaOne
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Past articles by Zhuang:
No end in sight for China's zero-Covid policy with experts left at a loss, China News
At China's pivotal 20th Communist Party congress earlier this month, paramount leader Xi Jinping hailed the country's zero-Covid approach as an all-out people's war. The strategy – a combination of lockdowns, vaccinations and contact tracing that China has pursued for nearly three years – had protected public health, he said. What was missing were any clues on whether the policy... → Read More
Fire engulfs 42-storey skyscraper in central Chinese city of Changsha, China News
A skyscraper in the central Chinese city of Changsha was seriously damaged after a fire engulfed the 42-storey building. The fire in the Lotus Garden China Telecom building was reported at 3.48pm. Thirty-six fire engines and 280 firefighters from 17 stations were sent to the blaze, according to the Hunan Fire Department. By 5pm the fire had been extinguished but... → Read More
The latest coronavirus boosters target Omicron. Are they safe and effective?, World News
The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised emergency use of two new Covid-19 vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna that target original strains and the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of Omicron, the strain that currently causes more infections than any others. This is the first major revamp of Covid-19 vaccines since they were rolled out in December 2020. The boosters,... → Read More
Scientists urge people to take second Covid-19 vaccine booster if offered, World News
Scientists have urged people to take a second booster shot of Covid-19 vaccine when they are offered the chance as the most infectious strain of Omicron drives a fresh surge of cases across the globe. More countries and regions have widened eligibility for a second booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine as the BA. 5 variant continues to spread . Earlier... → Read More
As BA.5 fuels another surge in cases, a new Omicron subvariant is also on the march, World News
As the rapidly spreading BA.5 Omicron coronavirus subvariant drives a surge in cases in many countries, health experts are urging people to get booster shots and wear masks. Scientists are also concerned about the new and highly mutated BA.2.75 Omicron subvariant – dubbed Centaurus – as it gains ground in India, where it was first detected in early June. Leo... → Read More
Covid-19 tests for the dead spark online mockery in Shenzhen, China News
Authorities in China’s southern city of Shenzhen have drawn online derision over rules requiring Covid-19 tests for the deceased. This came after a web user posted a screenshot of the “smart funeral” page in a Shenzhen Bureau of Civil Affairs app. The page said applicants for cremation services were “required to provide proof of nucleic acid testing of the deceased,... → Read More
Can China find zero-Covid wriggle room to beat GDP slowdown?, China News
After a difficult two months, Beijing online food distributor Zhang Jian is struggling to make ends meet, affected not just by the Omicron outbreak in his home city but also Shanghai’s lockdown. Zhang, who imports frozen foods, has an empty warehouse in Shanghai, where shipping has been unable to arrive, while a drink he distributes as a general agent is... → Read More
Both Shanghai and Taiwan Covid strategies 'a nightmare' for citizens, China News
The differences between the two official responses could not be greater. In Taipei, cashier Silver Chang, 28, waited a week to get medical and isolation instructions from health authorities after testing positive for Covid-19. But in Shanghai, office worker Maggie Zhao had to quarantine at home for more than two months just because another student at her son's school tested... → Read More
China forces deep disinfection after a Covid-19 case but it may be overkill, China News
Under China’s Covid-19 response , testing positive means not only being taken away for treatment or isolation instead of resting in one’s home, it also means finding the home, including the refrigerator and quilts, thoroughly sprayed with disinfectant when the patient returns. Residents of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Jilin complained online they had found their homes wrecked with disinfectants – in... → Read More
Second boosters: What the studies tell us about the fourth Covid-19 jab, Lifestyle News
With Covid-19 cases surging again, many countries have rolled out fourth doses of the vaccines . But most of these second booster programmes are just for vulnerable groups like the elderly and the immunocompromised as questions remain over how lasting the immunity is, and if a second jab will benefit the wider population. There have been some studies done on... → Read More
What is the mystery hepatitis affecting children around the world?, Lifestyle News
Scientists are racing to understand the cause of an acute liver inflammation which has left at least nine children dead and affected hundreds of others in 20 countries in just over a month. More than 348 cases of the mystery hepatitis strain have been reported, with some children needing liver transplants. Most patients were previously healthy. Hepatitis is uncommon among... → Read More
Why are diabetic patients at higher risk from Covid-19?, Lifestyle News
Chinese researchers have found a link between lower levels of a small molecule in diabetic patients and the risk of developing severe Covid-19, saying supplements might be able to help reduce the danger. Diabetic patients have higher risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from Covid-19, but the reasons why are not fully understood. In a paper published in the... → Read More
Shanghai children's study finds shorter Covid-19 fever, fewer symptoms, China News
A study of Covid-19 patients at a Shanghai children's hospital found that vaccinated children were twice as likely as unvaccinated minors to show no symptoms. Young patients with Covid-19 also experienced fever for shorter periods than with flu. The study, at Fudan University's children's hospital, also suggests the city's youngsters may have played an unwitting role in the widespread… → Read More
Shanghai needs food, not TCM Covid-19 medicine Lianhua Qingwen: Medical experts, China News
A leading neurologist in China has called for authorities to make it “very clear” whether traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Lianhua Qingwen is effective against Covid-19 before giving it precedence over food and other essential deliveries to people in lockdown. At least eight million boxes of Lianhua Qingwen capsules have been sent to Shanghai in its battle against the Omicron variant,... → Read More
What is the XE Omicron hybrid and should we be worried about it?, World News
The first time one was reportedly spotted turned out to be a false alarm. This time it appears to be for real. Researchers in several countries have identified hybrid variants of the Delta and Omicron strains of the coronavirus. They have also found one recombinant variant of sublineages of Omicron, which has shown early signs of being even more transmissible... → Read More
No shift in China's zero-Covid response until big picture changes: Expert, China News
China will only consider adjusting its strict virus response after overall conditions change at home and overseas, according to China’s top Covid-19 strategy official. In an interview with state broadcaster CCTV on Monday (March 21), Liang Wannian, head of the expert panel leading the country’s Covid-19 response, said those conditions included having better tools to fight the virus, the… → Read More
'It could be from anywhere': Is it fair to blame Hong Kong for Shenzhen's Covid-19 outbreak?, China News
Shenzhen residents have expressed growing concern as the city struggles to contain its current Covid-19 outbreak with rumours blaming illegal border crossings from neighbouring Hong Kong – even though the city has never confirmed how the outbreak started a month ago and dismissed the Hong Kong rumours. But with the city reporting new cases for more than a month and... → Read More
Why culling bats won't wipe out the deadly viruses they might carry, World News
One summer afternoon in 2020, Beijing resident Chen Daming spotted a bat outside his flat. It seemed to be flying round and round the hallway, looking for a way to get out. He would have tried to catch it himself and set it free out of the window, but not this time. The Covid-19 pandemic had emerged earlier that year,... → Read More
Even mild Covid-19 cases may change the brain, Oxford study finds, World News
Even a mild Covid-19 infection may cause the structure of the brain to change in areas associated with smell, memory, cognition and emotions, a study by Oxford University has found. Gwenaelle Douaud, associate professor with the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, and her colleagues based the assessment on a study of brain scan data from UK Biobank, a large databank of... → Read More
As Omicron fades, hopes the Covid-19 pandemic is over may be premature, World News
With Covid-19 cases and deaths slowing in momentum over recent weeks, some countries are rolling back restrictions amid optimism that the spread of Omicron has brought the world closer to the end of the pandemic. Denmark has lifted nearly all restrictions. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has advised that fewer communities need to continue anti-coronavirus measures such... → Read More