New York Times (December 13)
With Zero-Covid restrictions lifted, Beijing again “looks like a city in the throes of a lockdown — this time, self-imposed by residents. Sidewalks and pedestrian shopping streets are barren, and once busy traffic thoroughfares are deserted. Residents are hunkering down indoors and hoarding medicine as a wave of Covid sweeps across the Chinese capital.”
Tags: Barren, Beijing, Deserted, Hoarding, Hunkering down, Lockdown, Medicine, Residents, Restrictions, Self-imposed, Shopping streets, Zero COVID
BBC (June 1)
“It was supposed to last just nine days – a staggered lockdown to lessen the impact on Shanghai’s economy…. It lasted 65 days. It crippled the city and scarred its people. Restrictions are now being eased as quickly as they were imposed.” Like a “big bang,” most of the pervasive measures “are simply being lifted.”
Tags: 65 days, 9 days, Crippled, Eased, Economy, Impact, Imposed, Lockdown, People, Restrictions, Scarred, Shanghai, Staggered
CNN Business (April 17)
“Nearly 400 million people across 45 cities in China are under full or partial lockdown as part of China’s strict zero-Covid policy.” Collectively, they contribute $7.2 trillion, nearly 40%, of China’s GDP. “Analysts are ringing warning bells, but say investors aren’t properly assessing how serious the global economic fallout might be from these prolonged isolation orders.”
Tags: $7.2 trillion, 400 million, 45 cities, Analysts, China, Economic fallout, GDP, Global, Investors, Isolation, Lockdown, Strict, Warning bells, Zero-Covid policy
London Times (December 20)
“Although Boris Johnson is unlikely to impose further restrictions before Christmas,” anything is possible thereafter. “A full lockdown is not off the table.” Modelling suggests hospital admissions will soar beyond 3,000, possibly reaching 10,000 per day in England, a number “far higher than January’s peak of 4,000.”
Tags: Christmas, England, Hospital admissions, January, Johnson, Lockdown, Modelling, Peak, Restrictions
Bloomberg (May 29)
The Asia-Pacific region “has gone from leader to laggard.” Until recently, APAC fared remarkably well at averting the worst of the pandemic. Now, in contrast, as “New York and London reopen, Singapore and Taipei are in semi-lockdown. Melbourne joined them this week. On May 24, the U.S. State Department added Japan to its ‘Level 4: Do Not Travel’ advisory list.” The “failure to get shots into arms fast enough has in some cases triggered swift and unexpected reversals of fortune that carry significant economic implications.”
Tags: APAC, Economic implications, Japan, Laggard, Leader, Lockdown, London, Melbourne, New York, Pandemic, Reopen, Reversals, Singapore, Taipei, U.S.
Bloomberg (April 16)
“China’s economy soared in the first quarter as consumer spending strengthened, joining production and investment in recovering from the Covid slump a year ago.” Year on year, GDP “climbed a record 18.3%,” but that is “skewed by comparisons from a year ago when the economy was in lockdown. A better reading of the economy’s momentum comes from quarter-on-quarter growth, which slowed to 0.6% from 2.6% in the previous three months.”
Tags: China, Consumer spending, Covid, Economy, GDP, Investment, Lockdown, Momentum, Production, Record, Recovering, Skewed, Slump, Strengthened
The Guardian (March 14)
“A third wave of the Covid pandemic is now advancing swiftly across much of Europe. As a result, many nations – bogged down by sluggish vaccination campaigns – are witnessing sharp rises in infection rates and numbers of cases.” With infections rising to levels last seen in early February, “several countries are now set to impose strict new lockdown measures in the next few days.”
Tags: Covid, Europe, Infection rates, Lockdown, Pandemic, Sluggish, Third wave, Vaccination campaigns
The Guardian (November 1)
“Here we are again. Once more, England will enter lockdown on Thursday…. Once more, the government has been far too slow to act….. What is truly depressing for many people is not lockdown in itself, but the growing conviction that this government has no exit plan, and no ability to execute one even if they stumble across it.”
Tags: Ability, Act, Conviction, Depressing, England, Exit plan, Government, Lockdown, Slow
Time (September 22)
“England’s COVID-19 reopening went terribly wrong.” Britain hit 4,422 new cases on September 19, “the most in a single day since late May, when the country was still under national lockdown. The vast majority of those new cases (3,638) were in England…. On Monday, the government’s scientific advisors warned on television that, at current rates, the U.K. could be recording as many as 50,000 new cases per day by mid-October.”
Bloomberg (July 3)
“Much more than survive the pandemic lockdown, the largest American companies are seeing their advantage widen drastically as a result of it, with investors flocking to anything with size and stability.”
