China update: Xian hospital tragedy and Olympic countdown among our reporter’s picks of the week’s headlines

Two pregnant women lose babies and man dies after heart attack, all having been reportedly refused entry to hospitals because of Covid-19 protocols
Beijing’s air quality improves and its Winter Olympics is only a month away, while another Hong Kong media outlet, Citizen News, announces its closure

Coronavirus China

Echo Xie

Published: 8:30am, 7 Jan 2022

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Good morning and welcome to 2022!

I’m Echo Xie, a China desk reporter focusing on climate, energy and environment. You can reach me on Twitter @EchoooXie.

This week, a lot of Chinese people have been concerned about Covid-19 in Xian, the northwestern city that has locked down its 13 million residents for the past two weeks. The chaos revived memories of Wuhan when it was the original pandemic epicentre in early 2020.

There have been complaints of food shortages, a crashing health code app and now heartbreaking stories emerging of people being refused urgent treatment because of rigid enforcement of Covid-19 protocols.

This week also marked one month until the Winter Olympics, to be hosted by Beijing and the neighbouring city of Zhangjiakou.

Covid-19

Xian’s handling of its outbreak has been in the spotlight – even more so after two pregnant women lost their babies because hospitals turned them away, according to accounts on Weibo. One showed a Covid-19 test result that had expired four hours earlier, and the other lived in a compound the rules forbade her to leave.

The rules have since been adjusted and staff were punished for the first incident, with the director of the city’s health commission bowing deeply in apology at a press conference.

Another resident said on social media that her father had died after he suffered a heart attack and was denied hospital admission.

Olympics

The atmosphere was a little muted with a month to go, with organisers yet to decide whether locals will be allowed to attend as spectators.

China’s “closed-loop” method of containing coronavirus risks by keeping people in bubbles caused difficulties in Xian, but it looks tailor-made for the Olympics, when security and slick organisation will also be vital.

01:46

Senior officials in Xian dismissed from posts as city turns corner on Covid-19 outbreak

Athletes and staff will live, eat, travel and prepare in their bubble from the day they arrive until they depart, having no interaction with the outside world.

Hong Kong media

Another local media outlet has shut down, prompting more debate about press freedom in the city since Beijing imposed the national security law in 2020.

Independent website Citizen News said on Monday its closure was prompted by last week’s arrests at another pro-democracy outlet, the now-defunct Stand News. “The decision was made within a short period of time. The trigger point was the fate of Stand News,” chief writer Chris Yeung said.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the city’s authorities did “not seek to crack down on press freedom”.

Nuclear pledge

For the first time, the five recognised nuclear-armed countries have agreed they would use nuclear weapons only for defence, not to target any nation.

03:12

Hong Kong independent news site Citizen News to shut down

The quintet – China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States – vowed to keep using diplomatic channels to avoid military confrontations and prevent an arms race. There has been growing concern over China’s military expansion.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was encouraged by the show of cooperation, although he reiterated that “the only way to eliminate all nuclear risks is to eliminate all nuclear weapons”.

Fresher air

In Beijing, national air quality standards have been met for the first time since 2013, when the country started releasing data.

The capital’s average levels of lung-damaging particles known as PM2.5 were within China’s target limit, although still much higher than the World Health Organization recommends. Residents say they have noticed an improvement. He Haitao, 59, said clearer skies had persuaded him to ditch the gym and exercise outdoors.

I’m hoping for blue skies when I go hiking this weekend. Thanks for reading!