CX Daily: Shanghai’s Maternity Hospitals Struggle To Isolate Covid Patients
China will drop outbound travel restrictions. The country sets new risk rating system for foreign banks’ operations
Hospitals /
Shanghai’s maternity hospitals struggle to isolate Covid patients
Pregnant women and new mothers in Shanghai hospitals are facing high cross-infection and childbearing risks after China’s sudden dismantling of “zero-Covid” left maternity wards in the city struggling to maintain normal operations with staff and medicine shortages.
Some obstetrics and gynecology hospitals in the city are attempting to separate Covid-positive patients from those who test negative upon admission. But the risk of infection remains high, with patients waiting in the same “buffer” area for their PCR test results before being sorted to general or isolation zones.
Covid-19 /
China to drop outbound travel restrictions with end of ‘zero Covid’
China will resume processing passport applications for Chinese citizens seeking to travel abroad starting Jan. 8 as the country moves toward a full reopening of its borders following the dismantling of pandemic controls.
China will also start issuing tourist and business visas again for Chinese mainland residents visiting Hong Kong and will begin reopening sea and land ports, the National Immigration Administration said Tuesday in a statement.
Japan to require Covid tests for visitors from reopened China
FINANCE & ECONOMY
By the end of 2021, foreign banks such as HSBC and Citigroup set up 929 entities across China.
Banking /
China sets new risk rating system for foreign bank operations
China’s top bank regulator Tuesday unveiled rules to upgrade its risk rating system for foreign banks’ operations in the country, outlining criteria for risk management and access to the capital of their parent companies.
The new guidelines, which take effect immediately, spell out detailed factors and procedures adopted in the rating system as well as regulatory responses to rating results, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. The system is designed to better allocate supervisory resources and promote healthy development of foreign bank operations in China, the regulator said in a statement.
Financing /
Over 20 Chinese developers plan share sales as ban ends
More than 20 Chinese developers disclosed plans to sell new shares since China’s securities regulator eased restrictions on equity financing for the ailing industry last month.
Caixin calculations based on available data show that 21 publicly traded property developers announced intentions for stock offerings since the China Securities Regulatory Commission lifted a 12-year ban on developers’ equity financing Nov. 28.
Quick hit /
Fisher: Underappreciated positives are growing for Chinese stocks
BUSINESS & TECH
The Wangjing SOHO complex in Beijing’s Chaoyang district in 2021. Photo: VCG
Office buildings /
With vacancies rising, rents are falling for Beijing’s premium office space
Vacancies have been rising and rents falling in Beijing’s office buildings over the fourth quarter as businesses cut back on spending amid fallout from the pandemic, industry data show.
China’s deteriorating commercial property shows how the country’s real estate crisis has gone beyond the residential market, which has suffered from a protracted sales slump since last year.
Steel /
China’s iron and steel producers hit by property slump
Profits at China’s iron and steel manufacturers shriveled in the first 11 months of 2022, down 94.5% year-on-year as the industry struggled with sluggish demand from the property sector and rising fossil fuel costs.
Chinese firms engaged in ferrous metals smelting and pressing generated a combined profit of 22.9 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) during the period between January and November, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday. Their combined operating revenue totaled 8 trillion yuan during the period, down 9.8%.
Ports /
China scraps Covid curbs on ports, foreign ship crews
China will soon drop restrictions imposed on cargo ports for more than a year as the country reopens its borders after ending a three-year-old “zero-Covid” strategy.
China is set to scrap the so-called closed-loop management of ports starting Jan. 8 when the country officially downgrades the management of Covid-19, according to several staffers at the Shanghai Port, the world’s largest container port.
Quick hit /
IQiyi extends reality with new XR headset
Long Read /
How the key to cutting-edge chips came out of the Netherlands, and not China
GALLERY
2022’s climate-related disasters