Covid world: Beijing mothers defy Omicron outbreak, risking China crackdown

Parents in Beijing are playing ‘cat and mouse’ with police as the Chinese capital, lockdown amid an Omicron outbreak, resists becoming the next Shanghai.

Workers disinfect a zoo in Pyongyang. Picture: AFP/KCNA via KNS

Beijing mothers are defying an encroaching Omicron outbreak to host playdates near cordoned-off parks amid increasing lockdown orders.

Residents shut out of cinemas, restaurants and bars are huddling in streets playing mahjong or

slugging beers on barricaded sidewalks.

As Beijingers make the most of the small spaces closed in by China’s coronavirus controls, a growing number of Shanghai residents are being allowed to briefly venture outside,

China is hitched to a zero-Covid policy which triggers mass lockdowns, routine tests and movement restrictions whenever infection clusters emerge -- the last major economy to do so in a world now living with the coronavirus.

A couple push a stroller as they walk by a neighbourhood fenced-in and under lockdown after recent COVID-19 outbreaks. Picture: Getty Images)

Beijing, a city of 22 million people, looked on in horror as Shanghai entered a slow-motion lockdown in April, with millions still under stay-at-home orders.

The capital fears it could be the next Shanghai as dozens of cases each day have seen the closure of schools and everyone told to work from home.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been restricted to their homes, still well short of a full lockdown but enough to leave only the brave and the rebellious out on the streets of a pandemic-weary city.

“Everything is closed! Cinemas, museums... football pitches,” said Eric Ma, a programmer sharing a few beers with friends around the Liangma River in downtown Beijing.

“It feels claustrophobic. We have to find creative ways to have fun.”

Health workers wearing personal protective equipment walk past a fenced residential area under lockdown in Beijing. Picture: AFP.

Those, like Ma, who venture out face a cat-and-mouse game with police and city authorities enforcing strict virus rules and sealing off access to riverbanks and other gathering spots.

A large blue sign near the river captured the authorities’ approach: “Be patient to enjoy the sunshine when the pandemic ends.” Still, dozens of people were seen jumping over the barricades or wriggling through police tape to go for a dip on a warm Monday afternoon.

A middle-aged man stood in the water singing an aria from a famous Peking Opera. Some brought folding chairs, tables and small gas stoves to cook outside. Since restaurants have been shuttered, only allowing takeout, and many housing blocks not permitting visitors, people have started picnicking on pavements.

“The guards come from time to time and chase us away,” said Reiner Zhang, a fashion designer who had spread her picnic mat on a street corner near the Liangma River.

“But we don’t care. People are frustrated with pay cuts and layoffs and we need to meet and vent,” she said.

Parents sat on the riverbank, eating watermelon, while children paddled along the shallow edges of the river.

An elderly woman with luggage walks in an alley as people line up to be tested for Covid-19 in Beijing. Picture: AFP.

“We bring the children here for some exercise,” said Niu Honglin, pointing to her seven-year-old son bobbing up and down in the river with his floaters.

“With parks closed, there are no places to play, but children start throwing tantrums if they are stuck at home all day doing online lessons.”

On a nearby street, retirees gathered to play mahjong, flouting strict social distancing rules.

“We come here after lunch every day, and play until the sun goes down,” said a retired municipal worker who only offered his last name Zao.

“We’ve done it for years and the pandemic won’t stop us.”

In Shanghai, residents are slowly emerging from the other side of a lockdown during which millions were banned from stepping out of their homes.

The mood was festive in the central Jing’an district on Wednesday outside one apartment compound where residents were finally permitted to step outside -- for only two hours -- after 55 days indoors.

A masked quartet of friends toasted their brief freedom with champagne, while a group of older women put on their Sunday best for a long-awaited stroll through the neighbourhood.

A barber in protective gear gave customers haircuts in a makeshift roadside salon, as most hairdressers in the city remained shut.

CHINA FIRES BEIJING COVID CHIEF

Beijing has sacked its top health official as the Chinese capital battles a surge in Covid-19 infections despite the country’s strict zero-tolerance policy.

The city has reported hundreds of cases in recent weeks in an Omicron-variant-fuelled outbreak -- its largest since the start of the pandemic.

Millions have been ordered to work from home with the vast majority of bus and subway services suspended, while thousands of people were relocated to quarantine hotels after a handful of infections were detected in their residential compounds.

Yu Luming, the former head of the municipal health commission, has been removed from his position, the official state Xinhua news agency reported.

Yu is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law, and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervision investigation,” Xinhua said, without giving further details.

Health workers take swab samples from people to be tested for the Covid-19 coronavirus at a swab collection site in Beijing. Picture: AFP.

China has persisted with a zero-Covid policy, imposing hard lockdowns and movement restrictions on several cities even as much of the world has transitioned to living with the coronavirus.

In the capital, many parks, restaurants, schools and shops remain closed. The Communist Party-owned Beijing News also reported on Wednesday that city vice-mayor Wang Hong had submitted her resignation, but the brief report did not mention a reason.

Local authorities who are unable to contain virus outbreaks have regularly been sacked or punished since the pandemic began.

This includes multiple officials in the southern metropolis Shanghai, after a chaotic lockdown and spiralling outbreak that brought the city to a standstill.

SINGAPORE JAILS LEAKER OF COVID MEASURES

A Singaporean court handed a civil servant a four-week jail sentence for leaking information about the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions.

Such leaks rarely happen in the city-state, where the government keeps a tight hold on sensitive information, and the civil service is highly regarded.

But the case is among a few instances during the pandemic where civil servants leaked information related to Covid-19 to their family or acquaintances before it was made public.

Chua Wee Lin, a 52-year-old who was a deputy director at the National Library Board at the time, leaked information about the planned relaxation of measures to 18 others in a WhatsApp group four days before the government announced the plans in June 2020.

Residents queue for their food at Tuas South foreign workers dormitory during Singapore’s mandatory Covid stay-home order in April 2020. Picture: AFP.

After attending a meeting where the information was shared, he sent messages detailing the dates that country clubs, cinemas and restaurants would be allowed to reopen after Singapore’s partial lockdown, according to court documents.

Some of the members forwarded the information to their friends and family, and one of the messages went viral, eventually reaching staff at a different government ministry, who made a police report.

The leak forced the government agencies involved to redirect resources to find the source, court documents said.

“This was extremely time consuming given the viral nature of the information spread, and this had to be done concurrently with their attempts to fight the pandemic,” prosecutors said.

Chua was handed a four-week jail sentence after pleading guilty to wrongful communication of information under the Official Secrets Act.

Singapore Changi Prison.

The maximum punishment for the offence is a fine of about $2,000 and two years’ imprisonment.

Earlier this year, a woman was jailed for 18 weeks for leaking Covid-19 case numbers while she worked for the Ministry of Health, while another civil servant faces similar charges over leaking information on school closures to her husband, according to local media.

THREE DOSE PFIZER VAXX FOR KIDS UNDER 5

Children under five-years old, the only age group not approved to receive a Covid vaccine, would take three shots of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine under a new formulation one-tenth the strength of an adult dose.

Pfizer/BioNTech said trials showed its Covid vaccine is safe and effective for children aged six months to under five years when given in three smaller doses.

It comes as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to consider authorising Covid vaccines among age group.

The Pfizer clinical trial of three doses, given at three micrograms, found the vaccine evoked a strong immune response, while side effects were similar in the vaccine and placebo groups.

Vaccine efficacy was 80.3 per cent, according to a preliminary estimate.

A child receives a dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine at an event launching school vaccinations in Los Angeles. Picture: AFP.

“We are pleased that our formulation for the youngest children, which we carefully selected to be one-tenth of the dose strength for adults, was well tolerated and produced a strong immune response,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in a statement.

“We look forward to soon completing our submissions to regulators globally with the hope of making this vaccine available to younger children as quickly as possible, subject to regulatory authorisation,” he added.

The FDA has tentatively scheduled three dates in June where experts will meet and likely decide whether to authorise the Pfizer Covid vaccine for under-fives and the Moderna vaccine for under-sixes, which is given as two shots of 25 micrograms.

The agency was originally set to evaluate the Pfizer vaccine given as two doses in February, but data showed it did not provoke a strong enough immune response in children aged two to four. The FDA then asked to see data for a third shot.

A child receives a dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine at an event launching school vaccinations in Los Angeles. Picture: AFP.

According to the new data, 1,678 children received a third dose at least two months after the second dose, at a time when Omicron was the predominant variant.

An analysis of a subset of participants showed antibody levels were similar to 16- to 25-year-olds who were given the full strength vaccine at two doses.

The company claimed that no new adverse events were identified, and the majority of side effects were mild or moderate.

“Three doses of (Pfizer’s) Covid vaccine appear to be very safe and highly effective in preventing not only severe disease, hospitalisation, and death from Covid, but even symptomatic Covid at a time when Omicron was the dominant variant,” said Celine Gounder, editor-at-large for public health at Kaiser Health News.

Pfizer is planning a three-shot dose of its mRNA vaccine for children under five years old. Picture: AFP.

“However, we know that protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and milder symptomatic disease wanes over time,” she added.

“Pfizer is reporting follow-up data only out to seven days after the third dose of vaccine. It’s too early to say how the three-dose series would perform out to several months or a year.”

If and when both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines are authorised, US parents will have to consider whether they want their children to receive Moderna’s two dose vaccine — which will offer faster protection — or Pfizer’s three doses — which will take longer to be effective but may ultimately be more protective.

NORTH KOREA IGNORES VACCINE OFFER

Joe Biden says America has offered Covid-19 vaccines to Pyongyang but “got no response” despite a spiralling epidemic in North Korea, where nearly 2.5 million people have fallen sick with “fever”.

Mr Biden, who is in Asia, said the United States and South Korea had also made a fresh offer of Covid aid to Pyongyang but not heard back.

“We’ve offered vaccines, not only to North Korea but to China as well, and we’re prepared to do that immediately,” he said at a press conference in Seoul.

“We’ve got no response,” he added.

US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol arrive at the National Museum of Korea for the state dinner in Seoul, South Korea. Picture: Getty Images

North Korea reported its first cases of Omicron earlier this month, and despite a “maximum emergency” epidemic campaign, the virus has torn through its unvaccinated 25 million population.

On Saturday, North Korean state media reported nearly 2.5 million people had been sick with “fever”, with 66 confirmed deaths since the outbreak started.

It added that the country had “intensified” its anti-epidemic campaign.

Mr Biden and new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed concern on Saturday over North Korea’s spiralling Covid-19 outbreak.

“The ROK and the US are willing to work with the international community to provide assistance to the DPRK to combat the virus,” they said in a joint statement.

Employees of the Central Ideals Zoo disinfect the zoo to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Pyongyang. Picture: KCNA VIA KNS / AFP

Experts have warned of a major health crisis in the North, which has one of the world’s worst healthcare systems.

The impoverished country has poorly equipped hospitals, few intensive care units and no Covid treatment drugs or mass-testing capability.

Mr Yoon said the offer of aid was being made according to “humanitarian principles, separate from political and military issues” with Pyongyang.

The two leaders separately announced they would look at ramping up joint military exercises in response to the “threat” posed by North Korea, a suggestion likely to enrage Pyongyang, which views the drills as rehearsals for invasion.

SHANGHAI INCHES FORWARD WITH PATCHY RE-OPENING

Shanghai has partially restarted public transport and set out new classifications for Covid-19 risk areas, signalling a gradual reopening after nearly two months sealed off from the outside world.

China’s largest city has been almost entirely locked down since April, when it became the epicentre of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreak since the early days of the pandemic.

Unlike other major economies, Beijing has dug in its heels on a strict zero-Covid approach that relies on stamping out clusters as they emerge, though this has become increasingly difficult with the infectious Omicron variant.

Residents go on a scooter ride as people are allowed to leave their compound for a few hours during a relaxation of restrictions in Shanghai. Picture: AFP

But as new infections have slowed, Shanghai has cautiously eased restrictions, with some factories resuming operations and residents in lower-risk areas allowed to venture outdoors.

Four of the city’s 20 subway lines restarted Sunday local time along with some road transport, with officials announcing last week that it would provide a “basic network covering all central urban areas.” Those who take public transport will have to show a negative Covid test within 48 hours of their journey and have a “normal temperature”, they added over the weekend.

Shanghai will also classify areas as high, medium or low-risk after May 31, city health official Zhao Dandan told a press conference.

Districts with 10 or more reported Covid cases — or at least two community infections — will be considered “high-risk” while areas with no positive cases for 14 days will be deemed “low-risk”, Zhao said.

Workers wearing protective gear stack up boxes over a cart to deliver in a neighbourhood in Shanghai. Picture: AFP

Medium or high-risk areas face lockdowns of two weeks.

The new system appears to set the stage for a degree of movement comparable to other cities, a shift from tough current measures in which even residents of lower risk areas have faced tight restrictions.

But despite broader attempts to ease those restrictions, the city’s central Jing’an district was back under lockdown on Sunday, according to an official notice.

Jing’an will undergo three consecutive rounds of mass Covid testing from Sunday and residents are not to leave their homes during this period, a WeChat notice said.

“Exit permits that have been issued will be suspended,” the notice added Saturday, while assuring residents that “victory is not far away”.

Residents go for a walk as lockdown restrictions were relaxed in Shanghai. Picture: AFP

The city of 25 million residents reported more than 600 Covid cases on Sunday, 570 of them asymptomatic, according to National Health Commission data.

But restrictions continued in other Chinese cities with Covid cases, including the capital Beijing, which has already banned dining out and forced millions to work from home.

As of Saturday, nearly 5,000 people in Beijing’s Nanxinyuan residential compound had been relocated to quarantine hotels after 26 new infections were discovered in recent days, state media reported.

Fears have run high that the city may take a similar approach to Shanghai, where the lockdown has denied many adequate access to food and medical care.