Hong Kong warned WTO challenge to potential US trade sanctions could be ‘counterproductive’
The US has raised the possibility of revoking Hong Kong’s special status due to the proposal for a national security law being approved by China’s National People’s Congress
Hong Kong could then be subjected to the same trade war tariffs imposed on Chinese exports to the US

TRD should post 100%confirm ON, Since Talknumberone have the answer already ma, where got fair competition right?

Yeah, TRD should post 100%! Instead of 99.99%, its misleading!

Hahaha, yes agree with kenny chua! what do you guys think Dato Seri Larry Liew JV with 2 Super VVIP in Arb and Ageson?

So now we see the reality of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government's commitment to bringing corrupt politicians to justice and to answer for their gross deceit and lies.

Yes, first Riza. Now Musa. Next will be Roosmama Mansor. Followed closely, no doubt, by tengku Adnan tengku Mansor, ahmad Zahid Hamidi the indon kia and Jibby Abdul Razak.

It is a disgusting and most worrying (albeit predictable) display of political interference in the judicial system.

As for attorney-general (AG) IdrUs Harun, there are no words to describe his actions, lack of actions or decisions. He is a disgrace.

He is no better than his former colleague, Mohamed Apandi Ali. And to be honest, probably worse.

With the new phase of the movement control order (MCO) to begin, Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari rued that the state government has yet to receive new social distancing protocols for implementation.

“If we can all be disciplined, I believe that our control of the virus will continue and we can enter the normalisation phase after Aug 31 until a vaccine for Covid-19 has been found.

"That said, I wish to remind everyone that if there is a sudden rise in Covid-19 cases during this time, the government will not hesitate to enforce an EMCO or semi-EMCO in areas that are affected. I hope we can continue to be disciplined to avoid an increase in Covid-19 cases,” say Muhyiddin.

Not allowed

Pubs, nightclubs, entertainment centres, reflexology centres, karaoke centres, theme parks, mass religious gatherings, mass social gatherings, open houses and other activities which involve large amounts of people in one place.
Sports competitions or games that require mass gatherings of supporters in stadiums, swimming pools and public swimming pools are still not allowed, with contact sports such as rugby, wrestling, boxing, football, basketball and hockey not allowed as well.
Foreign travel.

In a televised address today, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the new RMCO will allow for more activities to be carried out. These include:

Allowed

Interstate travel will be allowed, except for areas under an enhanced movement control order (EMCO).
Training activities for sports teams, and non-contact sports such as bowling, badminton, archery and shooting.
Motorcycle convoys and group bicycle rides.
Schools will be opened in phases, with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Health (Moh) providing further details.
Business operations will return as normal, with adherence to the necesary standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Hari Raya Aidiladha and sacrifice rites will be allowed under the SOPs provided by religious authorities. For group prayers and religious activities in mosques and other houses of worship, more people will be allowed into services, with the government to provide guidance on this soon.
Haircuts and beauty treatments at salons.
Open markets, morning markets, night markets, bazaars, food courts, hawker centres, food trucks and food stalls will be allowed.
Commercial activities that involve sales and promotional activities outside of business premises.
Museum visits, indoor busking, self-service laundry facilities, recreational finishing and film shoots.
Meetings and workshops can be done so long as they follow health and safety protocols and optimise space.

List of businesses and activities allowed under recovery MCO until Aug 31

The conditional movement control order (CMCO) will end as scheduled on Tuesday (June 9), with the recovery movement control order (RMCO) slated to take place from June 10 to Aug 31.

Bravo lagi?

You guys beat them until they are half dead, only then let me do the bashing! Not friend enough leh!

Wahlaoeh you guys kickarse also bojio wa!

Too late... the pandemic is already coming to a natural end

Malaysia ranked 4th in public opinion survey on govt response to Covid-19

Malaysian has been ranked fourth in a global survey on public approval of their government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, ahead of Singapore and Indonesia tied in seventh position.

Chief executive officer of real estate agency IQI Global Group Kashif Ansari said it is no surprise that Malaysians feel their country has responded well to the coronavirus, because Malaysia has always had good world-class medical facilities and the government has taken muscular but empathetic action to protect the population.

"They have put health and well-being above short-term economic gains. As a result, Malaysia has had relatively few infections and looks like it will be able to emerge from the lockdown sooner than many other countries," he said in a statement today.

He said when property buyers from China and other parts of Asia looked around, they would see the United States and United Kingdom still having difficulties dealing with the coronavirus crisis.

Malaysia, he said, is about to emerge from its lockdown with remarkably little loss of life, pointing out that 105 other countries have had more Covid-19 deaths per million people than has Malaysia.

He said in the survey, Malaysia came in fourth with an index score of 58, behind the United Arab Emirates and India tied at third spot with an index score of 59. Vietnam was second with a score of 77, with China (85) topping the list, with the most citizens rating its performance favourably across all four key indicators: national political leadership, corporate leadership, community and media.

New Zealand (56) is the only Western country with an index score higher than the global average of 45 — indicating that citizens in Western countries are generally less satisfied with their countries’ performances.

Ansari said the survey was jointly conducted by Singapore’s leading social research agency Blackbox Research and international online panel specialist Toluna between April 3 and 19, 2020 on more than 12,000 people aged between 18 to 80 across 23 countries.

In addition, he said, in Southeast Asia, Malaysia looks like a safe haven from the coronavirus, noting that the welcoming visa policy, the diverse economy, the good educational opportunities, great medical infrastructure and the impressive response to the pandemic will make Malaysia more popular with foreign buyers in the second half of 2020 than in 2019.

“Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese buyers are the largest foreign buyer group in Malaysia. We also expect an increase in buyers from Singapore, Indonesia and Japan this year," he added.

Maybe China should implement a gold standard ... peg to US but backstop by gold. 1 RMB is pegged to X Dollar through its holding in gold. The possible implication is that someone might try to crash the gold market and wreak havoc to China’s peg

GUYS IF this really happens I will buy crypto currency. Say goodbye to USD as a reserve currency

LOL, no it wouldn't, everyone would reduce trade with China because it will become more costly

Dump US treasury. Dump them all. Let see who will suffer more.

Racist action stemming from deeply-embedded social education may not be a uniquely British trait, but it's been around there since well before the Norman Invasion. Onset of a sharply "superior" mindset produced by the Anglican-Catholic schism combined with rise of political and economic empire to leverage the mercantilist attitude deeply and was directly reflected in the slave trade, something which has never fully attenuated in modern Britain ever since it was abolished.

DoubleProsperity.....I strongly agree with you.

Once I visit Canada with my parents when I was 10. I had my share of racist attacks by canadians, since in the 90's i have lived in various cities across Asia and not once had to deal with racism. But in Asia majority of the westerners still walk around like they are better than we are. It is time to treat them as they treat us!!!

Too bad

yup

Workers accuse Ipoh-based health support firm of union busting

Police have arrested the executive secretary of the National Union of Workers in Hospital Support and Allied Services (NUWHSAS) M Saraswathy and four others this afternoon for protesting against employer Edgenta UEMS outside the Ipoh Hospital.

Holding up handmade placards, the protesters accused the company of “union busting” by threatening to take disciplinary action against certain staff active in union activities.

“Some of our members had been threatened they would be removed from their job if they continue to be active,” union executive secretary M. Sarasvathy told reporters.

Saravathy said the union was formed in 1997, but was dormant until 2016 when a new committee was elected.

She claimed harassment started in 2017 when the union asked to negotiate a collective agreement for workers with the company.

She claimed one of its members who worked in Seberang Jaya as a storekeeper was made to clean toilets after becoming the union’s branch chairman.

Members were also questioned for attending the recent May Day parade, added Sarasvathy.

“We want all this to stop as we are a recognised union,” she said, showing the media a copy of the recognition that was signed by Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran.

Union president K. Senthil Kumar claimed the company would force employees to take unpaid leave if they turn up late for work.

He also accused the company of favouritism by only allowing certain workers to claim overtime work.

Malay Mail is attempting to get Edgenta Mediserve for response to the union’s claims.

Edgenta Mediserve Sdn Bhd, a wellness support services company, is a wholly-owned unit of UEM Edgenta and provides hospital support and facility management services.

Agreed XmenOrigin, it should be distributed to the official paid-members of WHO first, plain and simple....

Asian Australian Alliance’s Chew said a generational shift could bring a turning point as the population of Asian-Australians grew and people became more confident in speaking out. Asian-Australians also had to be encouraged by the strong voices of other Asian diasporas, such as in the US.
“There is now a large majority of Asians and Asian-Australians who are at least second generation, born and raised [in Australia] and are no longer like the first-generation migrants who adhere to the ‘model minority’ [stereotype] of keeping their heads down,” she said.
“While Covid-19-related racism is not the cause of racism, but more a symptom of the bigger issue of racism in Australia, it effectively has given Asian-Australians courage and the push to speak out against it.”
But she warned things were unlikely to change quickly, given the continued “air” of suspicion of China’s growing influence and “foreign interference” in Australia.
“As ‘racial minorities’ in Australia, when China or any other country in Asia is targeted, the racial backlash falls on Asians and Asian-Australians. A good example is looking at what happened to Gladys Liu when she was elected for the Victorian Federal seat of Chisholm in the last election,” Chew said.
“As soon as she entered parliament, she was already deemed to be somehow ‘colluding’ with China.”
But while big changes may not happen in her lifetime, Chew felt the turning point was now.
“When any community of colour speaks up strongly and creates their own opportunities and platforms to do so, the Australian mainstream society really has no choice but to change with the trajectory,” she said.

So where does that leave Asian-Australians?
Arkadia University’s Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice professor Alex Otieno, who has written about human rights and racism at the UN, said Asian-Australians had every right to sue the Australian government if things did not improve. This was because their rights had been breached under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination treaty, which Australia signed in 1966, Otieno said.
Whether they would win was another matter.
“There is never precedent until someone has done something,” he said. “They may fail the first time or the second time [but] symbolically the idea that people are going to sue brings the matter to public attention and there is value in that.”
While he would not classify Covid-19-related racism as systemic persecution, unlike other human rights abuses like genocide or those in which governments were complicit, he said rights were still being violated when a country failed to meet its obligations to protect its people.

Last month, a Chinese student, who was too afraid to report her case, had an egg thrown at her in Brisbane.
Said Lin, the accountant: “I felt violated for sure. These abuses affect one’s safety and mental wellness. It is traumatising for victims. It is why Chinese-Americans are carrying guns.”
Lin did not believe most Australians were racist but said the government needed to take a tougher stance. “I pay taxes and I contribute to Australia. But my voice is not heard as much as [that of] a person who is not a minority in the Australian society. Chinese-Australians account for only 5 per cent of the nation’s voting power, that’s why politicians don’t care.”
Asian Australian Alliance advocate Erin Chew said many Australians were in denial.
“The prime minister made a public speech about the ‘contributions’ Chinese-Australians had made towards this pandemic but failed to actually acknowledge the elephant in the room, and that was to call the racism what it is: hate crime.”
She said the Human Rights Commission had limited powers.
“As it receives government funding, it still needs to maintain certain objectivity. The race discrimination commissioner is responsible for ‘running the process’ rather than being an activist and speaking out,” Chew said.

Anecdotes from Asian-Australians This Week in Asia spoke to underscored the findings.
In February, Chinese-Australian accountant James Lin was told by a group of white Australians on a train ride home one evening in February that he must have the coronavirus because he was “clearly not from Australia”. Other passengers laughed at the taunts and only one person, a 50-year-old white Australian woman, stood up for him.
In March, a Singaporean and a Malaysian university student from Melbourne University, neither of whom were from China, were verbally abused, beaten, kicked and dragged to the ground on Elizabeth Street, in the Melbourne central business district.

He quoted Asio’s Director General Mike Burgess saying that “in suburbs around Australia, small cells regularly meet to salute Nazi flags, inspect weapons, train in combat and share their hateful ideology”.
“Violent racism of the kind Burgess warned against does not appear in isolation. It grows out of a mindset that has no regard for multiculturalism, and it thrives in communities that fail to stand up to xenophobia and racism,” Tan said.
“This is why Asio’s security efforts, at the sharp end of combating racism, require the support of a National Anti-Racism Strategy that provides education and promotes social cohesion.”
When asked why the commission would not take a more proactive approach to deterring racism rather than treating it – for example, by advertising stronger penalties for racial offences on mainstream television – it said those efforts, as part of a fresh anti-racism programme, required funding which it had already requested from the government.
TAKING MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS
Meanwhile, Asians in Australia have started taking matters into their own hands, with several community groups starting a reporting service in early April, encouraging people to report all attacks while offering them peer support and counselling.
The group, headed by the advocacy group Asian Australian Alliance, has already received 380 complaints.
In a survey of about 240 of those who reported an incident, more than 80 per cent said they had experienced racism in public places. Forms of attack included slurs such as “stop eating bats and dogs”, physical assault, being spat or sneezed at and being shunned from groups.

“Fecca has also been calling for a government-funded anti-racism strategy and campaign designed to address the rising tide of subtle racism and discrimination in the community.”
Soutphommasane said: “It’s critical that political leaders send a strong message to society about racism not being tolerated.”
The Australian government and the Australian Human Rights Commission said they were doing their part.
While Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other federal leaders have condemned racist incidents, it was not until several incidents were reported by the media that Morrison took firmer action, telling Australians in April to “stop it”.
“Now is a time to support each other and I would remind everyone that it was Chinese-Australians in particular that provided one of the greatest defences we had in those early weeks,” he said, referring to how residents returning from Lunar New Year holiday in China had taken the initiative to isolate themselves at the start of the pandemic.
At the time of publication, Australia had more than 7,000 Covid-19 cases and over 100 deaths.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan said the commission had ramped up efforts to help victims report racial offences, translated instruction materials into 64 languages and worked with communities, government, police, researchers and the media to address racism.
Tan wrote a strongly worded article in mainstream media saying there was reason to believe racism was on the rise as a result of a growing threat from violent right-wing extremism as described by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio).

The government tried to water down the wording of Section 18C in the racial discrimination act that deals with offensive behaviour “because of race, colour or national or ethnic origin” because it allegedly interfered with freedom of speech. It was defeated in 2017.
The call to step up Australia’s anti-racism campaign was important because its human rights “report card” with the UN – the Universal Periodic Review – was due in early 2021, Human Rights Watch said.
The Human Rights Law Centre has already submitted its usual report to the UN on behalf of NGOs in Australia, and among the many recommendations it made, said: “Australia must strengthen measures to combat discrimination and violence on racial, ethnic or religious grounds, particularly through education and dialogue.”
There were no issues with Australia’s last review four years ago, although the UN recommended that Australia strengthen its initiatives in anti-racism, tolerance and non-discrimination.
“Since this pandemic started, we have heard of thousands of instances of racist behaviour directed towards Asian-Australians,” said Mohammad Al-Khafaji, the chief executive of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (Fecca).

Tim Soutphommasane, former Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner and now Professor of Practice at the University of Sydney, who oversaw the campaign, said it was effective in raising awareness to combat prejudice but it could not continue as the government declined to continue funding it.
During his time, he said the campaign received A$1.7 million (US$1.13 million), a small sum compared to countries such as Canada, which had a four-year C$45 million (US$32 million) programme.
“The campaign would have been even more effective had it received more material support from the federal government. But during the time I was commissioner, the government was more intent on weakening anti-racism, including the federal laws against racial hatred, than it was in strengthening it,” he said.

Given the limits of the justice system, Barns said it was critical for the Australian government and law enforcers to work on preventing racism.
“The issue here is the need for national leadership on discrimination and racism. Just as we have had a united political front on dealing with Covid-19, we need that same pressure on the issue of racism,” Barns said. “Police need to be on the front foot in using those laws and police commissioners can show leadership on it.”
Another victim of racism, Chinese-Australian driving teacher Tim Usman, echoed Barns’ comments.
“There must be a law for this racism because things are going to get much worse,” he said. “Most people are good but racism must be treated as a criminal offence like all other crimes, otherwise people get away with it. I am so angry, because racism [questions] my identity.”
While he was stopped at a set of traffic lights last month, with a Chinese student in his car, a white Australian man in an adjacent vehicle stuck his head out and yelled “you Chinese virus spreader”.
Barns and various community leaders and support groups all over Australia are now calling for an anti-racism campaign.
There have been several such campaigns in Australia, the last one being “Racism. It Stops With Me” which started in 2012 but ended in 2018. Adam Goodes, a famous Indigenous Australian footballer who had suffered racial attacks in recent years, was the face of some of the advertisements in the campaign.

Instead, people in Australia who are victims of racial discrimination can only seek apologies and monetary damages under state and territory laws and the only federal act that deals directly with racism, the Racial Discrimination Act.
While nearly all states and territories – rather than at the national level – had some form of law that makes it a criminal offence to racially vilify a person, these were rarely used, Barns said. In Western Australia, for example, penalties of up to 14 years’ imprisonment can be imposed.
The Racial Discrimination Act allows the Australian Human Rights Commission to take civil action against individuals or institutions for racial abuse through a usually long process of mediation and arbitration. Compensation may be awarded.

There must be a law for this racism because things are going to get much worse

The attack on the Do sisters was caught on camera.The attack on the Do sisters was caught on camera.
The attack on the Do sisters was caught on camera.
After a knife-wielding white woman spewing racial abuse attacked them in their own hometown in New South Wales at the end of March, it took weeks for Vietnamese-Australian sisters Rosa and Sophie Do to once more feel comfortable crossing the street.
The pair had been waiting to cross Petersham Road in the suburb of Marrickville when two white Australian teenagers launched into an unprovoked attack, calling them “Asian whores”, “Asian dogs” and “Asian sluts”.
One threatened the sisters with a knife and tried to kick them before spitting into Rosa’s eye and face.
“Back then, spitting was worse than punching someone,” Rosa said, referring to how the coronavirus can be spread through water droplets.

She had to go to the doctor to be tested not only for Covid-19 but for HIV, Hepatitis B and C too.

Those who shared their stories publicly or on social media have spoken of the trauma of being targeted, and the fear of returning to the public places where they were subjected to the discriminatory behaviour.
Barrister Greg Barns SC, a spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance, said that these fears and trauma showed that the liberties and rights of victims had been violated.
“Australians are very poorly protected in terms of fundamental human rights. Unlike every other democracy, there is no human rights law enshrined in the constitution or even as an ordinary act of parliament,” he said.
CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE
UN Secretary General António Guterres has said that hate speech and xenophobia seen across the world show the Covid-19 pandemic, besides being a public health emergency and an economic and social crisis, was turning into a human rights crisis.
Australia, where Asian ethnic minorities make up roughly 13 to 14 per cent of the 25.7-million population, does not have a human rights law at the federal level to deal with racism as a crime. This is unlike the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and other European countries, where there are national laws that punish racist offenders as criminals.
Multi-racial and religious Singapore also has tough laws to deal with racist behaviour, using its Sedition Act on those deemed to have promoted tensions among people of different ethnicities.

“You’d hope that people would have an evolved mindset at this point but clearly there are people who are still bigots and racists.”
Sophie added: “When people think ‘Chinese’ they look at all Asian people straight away … they don’t even consider that Asians don’t have to be Chinese, and that is racism in itself.”
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus this year, hundreds of residents of Asian descent across Australia have reported incidents of racial discrimination, including being verbally and physically attacked, according to the Australian Human Rights Commission and the advocacy group Asian Australian Alliance.
The commission said that complaints under the Racial Discrimination Act hit a 12-month high in February, though the number had fallen towards the “high end” of the “normal range” since then. It did not specify the number, nor say what constituted “normal range”.
It said one third of all racism complaints since the start of February had related to Covid-19, though it declined to outline the nature of the attacks.

The attack on the Do sisters was caught on camera.The attack on the Do sisters was caught on camera.
The attack on the Do sisters was caught on camera.
After a knife-wielding white woman spewing racial abuse attacked them in their own hometown in New South Wales at the end of March, it took weeks for Vietnamese-Australian sisters Rosa and Sophie Do to once more feel comfortable crossing the street.
The pair had been waiting to cross Petersham Road in the suburb of Marrickville when two white Australian teenagers launched into an unprovoked attack, calling them “Asian whores”, “Asian dogs” and “Asian sluts”.
One threatened the sisters with a knife and tried to kick them before spitting into Rosa’s eye and face.
“Back then, spitting was worse than punching someone,” Rosa said, referring to how the coronavirus can be spread through water droplets.

She had to go to the doctor to be tested not only for Covid-19 but for HIV, Hepatitis B and C too.

With the police springing into action quickly and through the help of social media, the attacker was identified and charged with six offences, including assault and indecent language.
“I am very disappointed. How is it that we live in a first-world country, where multiculturalism is celebrated … [and this] still happens even now, in 2020?” Rosa asked.

‘You Chinese virus spreader’: after coronavirus, Australia has an anti-Asian racism outbreak to deal with
A rise in racial abuse linked to Covid-19 highlights a gap in human rights legislation: there is no federal law punishing racist acts as a crime
With pressure growing for a national campaign, there are hopes that a growing diaspora and new generation will have the confidence to speak out

After a knife-wielding white woman spewing racial abuse attacked them in their own hometown in New South Wales at the end of March, it took weeks for Vietnamese-Australian sisters Rosa and Sophie Do to once more feel comfortable crossing the street.
The pair had been waiting to cross Petersham Road in the suburb of Marrickville when two white Australian teenagers launched into an unprovoked attack, calling them “Asian whores”, “Asian dogs” and “Asian sluts”.
One threatened the sisters with a knife and tried to kick them before spitting into Rosa’s eye and face.
“Back then, spitting was worse than punching someone,” Rosa said, referring to how the coronavirus can be spread through water droplets.

“Scientists, researchers and public health workers have worked hard on it, but at the current stage we can’t tell specifically which animal is [the host],” said Gao. “I hope the public can give scientists more time for us to understand this virus.”
Gao was also involved in collecting samples in January at the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, originally believed to the source of infection, following a cluster of cases among people living and working nearby.
However, the animal samples tested were free from Sars-CoV-2 and the virus was only found in waste water in the market.

“We first believed the virus originated in the seafood market, but now it looks like that the market is just another victim. The virus existed [before the infections happened in the market],” Gao said.
Countries including the US and Australia have criticised China for delays in making public the spread of the disease in Wuhan, and accused it of refusing to share samples from the Wuhan market and covering up information.
China, however, has rejected the criticism saying it acted quickly to share the genome sequence of the coronavirus and has worked closely with the WHO in combating the pandemic.

Three other vaccines developed in China are also being tested on humans.
Maria Van Kerkhove, head of emerging diseases at the World Health Organisation, said last week that there would be no short cuts in the development of vaccines and no steps should be skipped to ensure that any vaccines would meet all safety and efficacy requirements.
Gao acknowledged that vaccine candidates must be safe and effective, but Gao said a standard treatment may take 12 to 18 months to develop, but the fast-track vaccines could be used in emergencies or for groups with particular needs.
“The vaccines are not for the general public but for special groups. As the epidemic develops, certain groups of the general public might become special groups,” Gao added.

Zhu Jingjin, party secretary of the China National Biotec Group, whose subsidiaries in Wuhan and Beijing have started human trials on two vaccines, told state broadcaster CCTV last month that his company has the production capacity to meet the demand of “special population groups”, which he said included health workers, diplomatic staff, students studying abroad and people working on overseas infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Gao, an immunologist and virologist who earned a doctorate at the University of Oxford and did postdoctoral research there and at Harvard University, has been personally involved in the search for the intermediary species that transmitted the coronavirus that causes the disease – which is believed to have originated in bats – to humans.

Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is the seventh known human coronavirus. The other six can cause fatal infections, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome, or much milder illnesses like the common cold.
Vaccination is widely seen as the only viable medical solution that can put an end to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected more than 5.3 million people and killed more than 340,000 worldwide.

While there are more than 120 candidates under development, a vaccine jointly developed by Tianjin-based CanSino and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, was the first one in China to enter a double-blind, placebo-controlled second phase human trial to see how effective the vaccine is.
The Canadian authorities have also given permission for a further trial of the vaccine to be conducted there

China is working on a plan to give some groups a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year even if trials are not complete by then, according to the head of the country’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gao Fu said the National Immunisation Programme was drafting guidelines to determine who would be eligible to receive the vaccine.
With the number of daily reported infections in China now in single figures, vaccine developers could struggle to complete the final phase of trials because they will have not enough cases to draw comparisons with.
“The National Immunisation Programme is paying close attention and studying what groups of the population can take the shots, when to take them and what may constitute emergency use of vaccines,” Gao said on the sidelines of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing on Saturday.
“I believe we will decide based upon the specific situations as we will not be following the usual protocol, otherwise time will be lost. Nor can we [decide] based on our knowledge of coronaviruses because the virus is very unique,” he said.

China plans to start using coronavirus vaccine by end of year even if trials have not been completed
Gao Fu, head of the country’s Centre for Disease Control, says use could be fast-tracked for selected groups and in emergencies
Scientists may not have the time to follow normal protocols because of unique aspects to virus that causes Covid-19

The vaccine, which uses a weakened common cold virus as a vector to introduce Sars-CoV-2’s genetic material into the body, will use the Canadian National Research Council’s facilities to mass produce the vaccine.
Elsewhere in the world, the US has teamed up with drugmaker AstraZeneca to make at least 300 million doses of a similar vaccine developed by the University of Oxford for delivery as early as this autumn.
American drugmaker Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, which are developing a vaccine using synthetic versions of the virus’s mRNA, hope to distribute 20 million doses by the end of this year if the US Food and Drug Administration gives it emergency authorisation.

A vaccine expert who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media said the drug regulator has been cutting red tape to ensure vaccines can be approved swiftly.
“Covid-19 has changed so much. Now the evaluation and review is calculated in hours, not days,” the expert said. “Sometimes site visits are done through video meetings to ensure efficiency.”
The expert said, even with China’s release system for vaccines – which requires every lot to be chemically and biologically tested before it is released – the extra workload can be handled with the current manpower.
“I wouldn’t worry about Covid-19 production or supply. The uncertainty is the quality of the vaccine itself,” the expert said.
Tianjin-based CanSino Biologics, which has developed a vaccine with military scientists, is planning to conduct its phase 3 trial in Canada.

The company said in a statement that it is in talks with the World Health Organisation and regulators of “relevant countries” over a phase three human trial.
The company hopes to be able to produce 100 million doses a year and plans to run production tests in July.
Drug makers whose vaccines have yet to reach the advanced trial stage are also building facilities.
Hualan Biological Engineering in Henan province and Kangtai Biological Products in the southern city of Shenzhen are both building level 3 facilities, according to the China Academy of Building Research.
The Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, whose inactivated vaccine is undergoing a phase 1 trial to check its is safe, is planning to build a similar facility later this year.

Yu Qingming, party secretary of SinoPharm, a subsidiary of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group which owns China National Biotec Group (CNBG), said two facilities had been built at “wartime speed”.
Two CNBG subsidiaries – the Beijing Institute of Biological Products and Wuhan Institute of Biological Products – have designed inactivated vaccines that are undergoing phase 2 trials.
“The facility in Beijing has been completed and is in the process of qualifying for certification. The annual production capacity will be 100 million doses. The workshop in Wuhan has finished building the main structure … Its annual production capacity will be 80 million doses,” Yu said.

“After the two workshops begin production, they will effectively meet the need for large-scale inoculation and provide important guarantees over the availability and affordability of Covid-19 vaccines.”
Zhu Jingjin, party secretary of the CNBG, told state broadcaster CCTV last month this production capacity would meet the demands of “special population groups”, which he said included health workers, diplomatic staff, students studying abroad and people working on overseas infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.
China has previously said it intends to vaccinate certain groups by the end of the year even if the trials have not finished.
Sinovac Research & Development, which recently received US$15 million in funding from two investors to boost the development of an inactivated vaccine dubbed CoronaVac, is also building a level 3 production facility in Beijing’s Daxing district.

Phase 2 trials of the vaccines are expected to end in July, but there is a question mark over the phase 3 trials – which will need thousands of volunteers – because Covid-19 is no longer prevalent there.
Yet Chinese regulators and developers are still keen to develop the vaccines as quickly as possible.

China building secure facilities to fast track coronavirus vaccine production
The country currently has five candidate vaccines undergoing trials, four of which will need high levels of biosecurity to manufacture them safely
The Chinese authorities are keen to begin mass production as quickly as possible
China is laying the groundwork to begin manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines as soon as they are given the green light.
Although the five drugs being developed by the country’s scientists are still months away from a full evaluation, secure facilities are already being built.
The facilities will have a biosecurity rating of 3, the second highest level, because Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is highly pathogenic and will need a secure environment if it used to make the vaccine.
Four of the five Chinese candidates are inactivated vaccines – a technique that involves killing the virus so that it cannot cause a serious infection but does stimulate an immune response and requires secure facilities.

The other Chinese vaccine, and five developed in other countries, are using genetic techniques that need lower levels of biosecurity because the actual Sars-CoV-2 virus is not used in the production process.