China

BEIJING (AP) — Patients, mostly older people, lay on stretchers in hallways or took oxygen while sitting in wheelchairs as a COVID-19 outbreak stretched public health facilities’ resources in China’s capital Beijing, even after its reported peak.

The Chuiyangliu hospital in the city’s east was packed Thursday with newly arrived patients. Beds ran out by midmorning, even as ambulances continued to bring more people in. Hard-pressed nurses and doctors rushed to take information and triage the most urgent cases.

BEIJING, Jan 4 (Reuters) - China's state media rallied citizens on Wednesday for a "final victory" over COVID-19 as health officials abroad tried to work out the scale of its raging outbreak and how to stop it spreading.

Beijing's abrupt axing of "zero COVID" curbs last month has unleashed the virus on China's 1.4 billion people who have little immunity after being shielded since the virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan three years ago.

HONG KONG, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Britain should decouple from the United States when it comes to China and develop a more constructive relationship with China, according to an opinion piece recently published by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's first foreign policy statement in November last year differed in tone from his predecessor, Liz Truss, who was expected to label China "a threat," the article said.

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government sharply criticized COVID-19 testing requirements imposed on passengers from China and threatened countermeasures against countries involved, which include the U.S. and several European nations.

“We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing Tuesday.

BEIJING, Jan 2 (APP):Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has introduced a special package to facilitate Pakistani and other Muslims pilgrims who plan to travel from China to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.

Under the package, the pilgrims travelling on PIA from Beijing and Chengdu would be provided connecting flights from Islamabad to Saudi Arabia and back.

However, Pakistani passengers could enjoy a stopover of over one week in Pakistan while returning to China, a senior official told APP here on Monday.

BEIJING, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Some people in the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan braved the cold and a rise in COVID-19 infections to return to regular activity on Monday, raising the prospect of a boost to the economy as more recover from infections.

Among those who gathered to sled or ice skate on a frozen lake in the capital's Shichahai Lake Park, some were upbeat about the opening-up after China dropped stringent "zero-COVID" measures on Dec. 7 to adopt a strategy of living with the virus.

MACAO (AP) — Only a few tourists crisscrossed the wavy black and white paving of Macao’s historic Senado Square on a recent weekday and many of the shops were shuttered.

The gaming hub on China’s south coast near Hong Kong has endured some of the world’s strictest anti-virus controls for nearly three years, and a loosening of border restrictions after China rolled back its “zero-COVID” strategy in early December is widely expected to boost its tourism-driven economy.

SHANGHAI, Jan 1 (Reuters) - A U.S. military plane involved in a confrontation with Chinese aircraft in disputed southern waters last week had violated international law and put the safety of Chinese pilots at risk, a defence ministry spokesman said.

The U.S. military said on Thursday that a Chinese Navy J-11 fighter jet had come within 10 feet (3 metres) of a U.S. air force RC-135 aircraft on Dec 21, forcing it to take evasive manoeuvres to avoid a collision.

WUHAN, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Thousands of Chinese took to the streets to mark the New Year as authorities and state media sought to reassure the public that the COVID-19 outbreak sweeping across the country was under control and nearing its peak.

Though many people in major cities have continued to isolate as the virus spreads through the population, New Year revelries appeared to be mostly unaffected as people celebrated the end of 2022 and the turn into 2023.

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- As people around the world are celebrating the New Year, world leaders delivered New Year messages to their citizens, reviewing the past year and hoping for peace and prosperity in 2023.

"It was a year of truly pivotal, even fateful events. They became the frontier where we lay the foundation for our common future, our true independence," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his New Year address on Saturday.