China braces for a 'new phase' in its battle against COVID-19 after it dropped pandemic border controls in its latest easing of virus curbs.
BEIJING, China – China braced for a “new phase” in its battle against COVID-19 on Monday, January 9, and financial markets strengthened after Beijing dropped pandemic border controls in the latest easing of curbs that has let the virus loose on its 1.4 billion population.
China’s top health officials and state media have repeatedly said COVID-19 infections are peaking across the country and they are playing down the threat now posed by the disease. But the World Health Organization has said China is under-reporting the scale of the outbreak and international health experts estimate more than one million people in the country could die from the disease this year.
China’s blue-chip index gained 0.7%, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 1.6%. State broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday that direct flights from South Korea to China were close to sold out. The report quickly shot to the most read item on Chinese social media site Weibo.
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