China locks down city on Vietnam border as Covid-19 cases rise

The effort takes on extra urgency during the staging of the Winter Olympics, which began on Friday and run until Feb. 20, as well as a busy travel season for the Lunar New Year holiday

Authorities in China’s southwestern city of Baise ordered residents to stay at home from Monday and avoid unnecessary travel as they enforced curbs that are among the toughest in the nation’s tool-box to fight rising local infections of COVID-19.

The outbreak in Baise, which has a population of about 3.6 million and borders Vietnam, is tiny by global standards, but the curbs, including a ban on non-essential trips in and out, follow a national guideline to quickly contain any flare-ups. The effort takes on extra urgency during the staging of the Winter Olympics, which began on Friday and run until Feb. 20, as well as a busy travel season for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Dozens of athletes for the Games, hosted by the capital Beijing and the northern province of Hebei, have tested positive and moved into isolation, but events have not been seriously affected in the absence of cluster spread in the closed loop insulating them from the public. Baise, in the region of Guangxi, reported 37 domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms for Sunday, up from six the day before, data from the National Health Commission showed….Read More

 

Omicron may not be the final variant, but it may be the last of concern

 The disease might very likely be mild as some past exposure creates immunity that reduces the likelihood of hospitalisation and death

It is controversial whether viruses are alive, but – like all living things – they do evolve. This fact has become abundantly clear during the pandemic, as new variants of concern have emerged every few months. Some of these variants have been better at spreading from person to person, eventually becoming dominant as they out-compete slower versions of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This improved spreading ability has been ascribed to mutations in the spike protein – the mushroom-shaped projections on the surface of the virus – that allow it to bind more strongly to ACE2 receptors. ACE2 are receptors on the surface of our cells, such as those that line our airways, that the virus attaches to in order to gain entry and start replicating.

These mutations allowed the alpha variant, and then the delta variant, to become globally dominant. And scientists expect the same thing to happen with omicron. The virus cannot, however, improve indefinitely. The laws of biochemistry mean that the virus will eventually evolve a spike protein that binds to ACE2 as strongly as possible. By that point, the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to spread between people will not be limited by how well the virus can stick to the outside of cells. Other factors will limit virus spread, such as how fast the genome can replicate, how quickly the virus can enter the cell via the protein TMPRSS2, and how much virus an infected human can shed. In principle, all of these should eventually evolve to peak performance.

As companies struggle to get going, is Vietnam throwing away trade war win?

More and more businesses are complaining about congested ports and roads, rocketing costs for land and labor, and regulations that aren’t being loosened fast enough

Vietnam is finding it’s hard to win a trade war even when businesses are trying to hand you victories. The Southeast Asian growth engine has a young and growing middle class, a horde of free-trade agreements, and a booming manufacturing industry. Businesses from Alphabet Inc’s Google to Crate & Barrel Holdings Inc. are lining up to invest in the country as supply chains migrate from neighboring China, which served as the world’s factory for the better part of two decades.

But Vietnam is starting to see expectations outrun reality. More and more businesses are complaining about congested ports and roads, rocketing costs for land and labor, and regulations that aren’t being loosened fast enough. Tapestry Inc, owner of the Coach and Kate Spade brands, has lamented insufficient infrastructure investment that’s left some containers stalled on the waters. Eclat Textile Co, a supplier to Nike Inc, says it needs to diversify beyond Vietnam, including to cheaper locations.

If Vietnam isn’t able to fast-track progress in closing its infrastructure gap, it risks losing its “mini-China” status that has drawn so many of Bain & Co.’s toy-supplier clients there since 2015, said Gerry Mattios, Bain’s Singapore-based vice president. Costs could outweigh the benefits, sending producers to the likes of Sri Lanka or Cambodia, he said..

Manufacturers want to quit China, but neither Vietnam nor India match up

India has the manpower, but skill levels fall short and government rules are relatively restrictive

Companies News: With the US and China tangled in a nasty trade fight, this should be Vietnam’s time to shine. Instead, it is becoming increasingly clear that it will be years, if ever, before this Southeast Asian nation and other aspiring manufacturing destinations are ready to replace China as the world’s factory floor.

The specialised supply chains that made China a production powerhouse for smartphones and aluminum ladders and vacuum cleaners and dining tables are nowhere near as developed in Vietnam. Factories with US-focused safety certifications and capital-intensive machinery aren’t as easy to find. And Vietnam, with less than one-tenth China’s population, is already running into labor shortages as global manufacturers rush to set up shop here to avoid US tariffs.

“China has a 15-year head start—whatever you want, someone’s doing it,” said Wing Xu, the operations director for Omnidex Group, which helps make large pumps for Pennsylvania-based industrial equipment manufacturer McLanahan Corp.

Business leaders say they are preparing for a protracted fight between the world’s two largest economies. Few companies are planning to leave China altogether, but those that heavily clustered production in the country are urgently looking to diversify…

Raed More: US China trade war