US to require arrivals from China to provide negative Covid test

Other countries including Italy have taken similar steps after Beijing’s rollback of ‘zero-Covid’ policies led to surge in cases

The US has announced all travellers from China must provide a negative Covid-19 test to enter the country, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections.

The increase in cases across China follows the rollback of the nation’s strict anti-virus controls. Beijing’s “zero Covid” policies had kept the country’s infection rate low but fuelled public frustration and crushed economic growth.

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One person killed as 200 vehicles collide in fog on Chinese bridge

Many people trapped in vehicles after pile-up on Zhengxin Huanghe Bridge in Zhengzhou

One person has been killed after more than 200 vehicles were involved in a pile-up on a bridge in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou in heavy fog, according to rescuers and the CCTV state broadcaster.

Cars and trucks could been seen crumpled and piled on top of each other on the Zhengxin Huanghe Bridge in pictures and videos posted on social media. One car was jack-knifed in the middle of a pile in a picture taken from CCTV footage.

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China’s move to open up travel sparks concern over spread of new variants

Japan, India and Taiwan introduce measures to prevent influx of cases as experts say lack of data makes it difficult to assess risk

Virologists are watching nervously to see how China’s abrupt decision to drop some of its toughest Covid-19 restrictions, including scrapping quarantine rules for travellers, may affect variants and their global spread as some countries increase precautionary measures.

China’s decision on Monday to drop quarantine for overseas visitors from 8 January has prompted concerns about the potential for new variants to spread beyond China’s borders. Japan and India are among the countries that have introduced measures to prevent an influx of cases.

This article was amended on 28 December 2022. Airfinity estimates there are more than 5,000 deaths a day in China, rather than new cases as an earlier version said.

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China hospitals ‘extremely busy’ amid surging wave of Covid infections

Health workers report huge jump in mostly elderly Covid patients as China adjusts to living largely without virus restrictions

Chinese hospitals were under intense pressure as a surging wave of Covid-19 infections strained resources in the last major country to move towards treating the virus as endemic.

In an abrupt change of policy, China earlier this month began dismantling the world’s strictest Covid regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, putting its battered economy on course for a complete re-opening next year.

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China’s move to ease Covid travel restrictions lifts hopes for global economy

Analysts says lifting of many rules may soften impact of higher interest rates and unblock supply chains in 2023

China’s decision to ease rules on travel in and out of the country, the world’s second-largest economy, has offered investors hope that it could soften the toll from higher interest rates on global stock markets and unblock supply chains amid a dark outlook for 2023.

Chinese authorities said late on Monday that inbound travellers would not have to quarantine on arrival, from 8 January onward. The announcement marked the latest in a series of steps to reopen the country, which is home to vital global supply chains and 1.4 billion people.

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Taiwan extends compulsory military service amid mounting tensions with China

Conscripts will see the length of their service extended from four months to one year in plans to be outlined by Taiwan’s president

Taiwan will extend its compulsory military service from four months to one year amid mounting military tensions with China, the island’s president has announced.

Under the plans due to come into effect in 2024, conscripts will undergo more intense training, including shooting exercises and combat instruction used by US forces. Conscripts will be tasked with guarding key infrastructure, enabling regular forces to respond more swiftly in the event of any attempt by China to invade.

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Rush to book flights as China scraps Covid travel restrictions

China to lift quarantine requirement for inbound travellers and resume issuing visas for overseas travel from 8 January

Chinese people have rushed to book overseas travel as authorities scrapped the last big plank of the country’s zero-Covid policy despite reports of hospitals being overwhelmed nationwide.

Late on Monday health authorities announced they would no longer require inbound travellers to go into quarantine, then on Tuesday the immigration authority said it would resume issuing visas for mainland residents to travel overseas from 8 January.

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China to drop quarantine requirement for overseas visitors

Eight days of isolation will no longer be needed, and officials say citizens’ ability to travel will be slowly restored

China will drop Covid-19 quarantine requirements for passengers arriving from abroad from 8 January, its National Health Commission has announced in the latest easing of the country’s once-strict virus-control measures.

Currently, arriving passengers must quarantine for five days at a hotel, followed by three days at home. At one stage there was a requirement to quarantine for three weeks.

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Dozens of Chinese warplanes cross Taiwan median line

Beijing says drills also involving navy ships are a ‘firm response’ after US defence spending bill prioritised support for Taiwan

Seventy-one Chinese air force aircraft including fighter jets and drones entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone in the past 24 hours, the island’s government said on Monday, the largest reported incursion to date.

The incursion included 43 Chinese aircraft that crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line, an unofficial buffer between the two sides that lies within the defence zone, Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a report, as Beijing continues military activities close to the island.

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Activists to revisit controversial ‘Where is Peng Shuai’ protests at January Australian Open

One of the protesters, Drew Pavlou, says they want to ‘make trouble’ for Tennis Australia over its links to China

Activists plan to reprise their controversial “Where is Peng Shuai?” protest at next month’s grand slam, with the support of three-time Australian Open winner Martina Navratilova.

At this year’s Open in January, Tennis Australia was criticised for initially confiscating the shirts, citing a ban on “commercial or political” material. The decision was later reversed.

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Australia and China team up to protest WTO blockages caused by US vetoes on appeal body

More than 100 countries stress ‘the urgency and importance’ of filling appeal judge positions as US continues years-long disruption started by Trump

Australia has teamed up with China and more than 100 countries to protest longstanding blockages at the World Trade Organization as the United States vetoes appeal judge appointments.

Australia and China remain at odds over specific trade disputes between them – such as Beijing’s tariffs on Australian wine and barley – but are united in concern about the years-long disruption to a key appeal body.

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Chinese city seeing half a million Covid cases a day – local health chief

The figures reported by Qingdao’s municipal health chief were in stark contrast to official statistics from the central government

Half a million people a day are being infected with Covid-19 in a single Chinese city, a senior health official has said, in a rare and quickly censored acknowledgment that the country’s wave of infections is not being reflected in official statistics.

A news outlet operated by the ruling Communist party in Qingdao reported the municipal health chief as saying that the eastern city was seeing “between 490,000 and 530,000” new Covid cases a day.

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Taiwan may restrict Panadol sales to thwart bulk-buying for China

Covid-19 situation across the strait, and concern at home sparked by Taiwan’s reopening for travel, have put strain on medicine supplies

Taiwan may restrict the bulk buying of pain relief medications as people stock up, with some planning to ship their purchases to China, where the worsened Covid-19 situation has put a strain on supplies.

Hsueh Jui-yuan, Taiwan’s minister of health and welfare, told lawmakers at a legislative committee hearing on Thursday that the health agency would first instruct pharmacies to advise customers not to snap up Panadol and related drugs.

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TikTok’s parent company fires four workers for improper access of user data

ByteDance said four employees were fired for examining data of two journalists in attempt to find leak source

ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of popular video app TikTok, said on Thursday that some employees improperly accessed TikTok user data of two journalists and were no longer employed by the company, an email seen by Reuters shows.

ByteDance employees accessed the data as part of an unsuccessful effort to investigate leaks of company information earlier this year, and were aiming to identify potential connections between two journalists, a former BuzzFeed reporter and a Financial Times reporter, and company employees, the email from ByteDance general counsel Erich Andersen said.

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Australia’s lobster industry hopeful China will drop trade sanctions

Exporters optimistic as Penny Wong raises trade with her Chinese counterpart but many are also wary of being ‘burned again’ by volatile diplomatic relations

Australia’s lobster industry is cautiously optimistic that China could soon remove trade restrictions, but exporters are wary of being “burned again” by sanctions and volatile diplomatic relations.

Many businesses have been paying close attention to foreign affairs minister Penny Wong’s trip to China this week – the first by an Australian minister in three years – where she discussed “trade blockages” with her counterparts.

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Australia news live: flood peaks expected in parts of SA, private hospital nurses to strike in NSW for first time in decades

South Australian SES revises dates for expected peak flows with Renmark and Berri expected to peak today; nurses at two major private hospitals in Sydney to walk off the job at 1pm

Private hospitals nurses to walk off the job for first time in decades

Staying in NSW, nurses at two major private Sydney hospitals will walk off the job later today.

The Australian market regulator and the cap price that people pay for electricity will make their announcement in February about what bills people will pay for next year. And we expect that the move will feed directly through to that and see downward pressure of up to $243 on electricity bills of what it was previously going to be.

How much of a philosophical jump was it for you as a Liberal, to intervene in the market in this way and cap the prices?

Well, it wasn’t a jump at all to stand by people following the illegal war in Ukraine, which is pushing up electricity bills. The government is there to protect the people – not the other way around.

And that’s exactly what we did. We looked at a range of measures to support people to deal with these high electricity prices. And this is the one that the commonwealth government asked us to do and, obviously, our No 1 priority is standing by the people of New South Wales using our balance sheet to support families and businesses. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.

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Wong says ‘the ice thaws, but slowly’ ahead of talks – as it happened

This blog is now closed

Long delays on M7 at Prestons in Sydney

Traffic is banked up on the M7 in Sydney. Chanel 7 is reporting that a truck crash has caused the long delays.

They’re sharing their emotions and their grief because they believe this should never have happened.

It’s really important for us to have that public support. It inspires us to continue to do our job.

They’ve also lost two colleagues … so they are hurting incredibly.

A lot of work to be done to assist them as we move into the future because the pain will never go away.

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China changes definition of Covid deaths as cases surge

No new fatalities reported this week, despite numerous reports of overloaded hospitals and crematoriums

China has moved to a narrower definition of Covid deaths, which will drastically cut its death statistics as cases increase following the relaxation of zero-Covid rules.

Authorities reported no new fatalities in the latest Covid statistics update on Wednesday, despite widespread reports and images of overloaded hospitals and crematoriums and queues of hearses. The official number of deaths since the pandemic began in Wuhan three years ago even had one struck off on Wednesday and now stands at 5,241 – an extremely low number compared with many less populous countries.

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China’s screeching U-turn on Covid will not be an instant fix

If Beijing is expecting an immediate boost from abandoning its tough controls it is mistaken

From zero tolerance to “let it rip”. China has not just changed its mind on how to cope with Covid, it has executed the mother of all U-turns in response to slower growth and mounting civil unrest at the draconian lockdowns.

If Beijing is expecting an immediate economic boost from abandoning its tough controls it is mistaken. There will be a growth dividend from the policy shift but the state of the world’s second biggest economy will get worse before it gets better, and it will be next spring at least before the easing of restrictions starts to pay off.

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China rushes to boost intensive care beds, doctors and stocks of medicine as Covid surges

State media reports on increased efforts to boost health infrastructure, staffing and supplies

Chinese authorities are rushing to boost the number of intensive care beds and health workers and increase medication supplies as Covid-19 surges through the country.

Since the abrupt dismantling of the stringent zero-Covid regime, cases have skyrocketed in China. A full picture of the impact is difficult to gauge. Authorities have conceded it is “impossible” for the testing system to keep track, and the narrow parameters for attributing deaths to the virus mean the official count – fewer than 10 this week – is at odds with widespread anecdotal reports of fatalities and high traffic at funeral homes.

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