Many of the cinema owners in the country have said that almost all the cinema theatres in the country might shut down by the end of 2022. Some of the major Hollywood studios have ceased their licenses in the country. The blockbusters of Hollywood had accounted for nearly 80 percent of the earnings of Russian cinema. But then the theatre owners had started to show old foreign or Soviet films to save the business but in vain. The cinema business in the country was already struggling due to COVID-19 pandemic and now there are speculations that Hollywood films might be replaced by Bollywood in Russia.

As of now it has become tough to imagine life in the country without McDonald’s, iPhones or IKEA furniture. A major bulk of the non-food commodities came from foreign companies and also supported about 2 million jobs. Due to the sanctions, nearly 1000 international companies have restricted or have sold off at least some of their operations between March and May, 2022. Due to the situation, as many as 600,000 people have lost their jobs.

On the other hand Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he is happy that some of the foreign companies have left the country as it will allow the home grown businesses to flourish. The country had also warned the west that it would take away the ownership of the local enterprises owned by western companies, who would chose to leave. The new rule might come to effect in the upcoming weeks and would make it difficult for the western firms as Russia would have broader powers.

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Talking about the other cities in China that continue to be under lockdown, a third day with no new COVID-19 cases would have a ‘zero COVID’ status and that will mark the beginning of lifting of the restrictions. Shanghai, which has a population of nearly 25 million has set out a clear timetable for making an exit from the lockdown on May 16, 2022. But a number of residents remained skeptical as they have been in isolation for an extended time. The city authorities have planned to begin outdoor activities in phases. This week the pharmacies and convenience stores would be reopening.

However, the majority of the restrictions would continue to remain in place at least until May 21, 2022. Public transport and other services are expected to resume only after May 21 and that too on a gradual basis. By the month of June, the lockdown is likely to be lifted, but the residents of the city would still need to be tested frequently. This week, more people were allowed to be out of their homes. There were a few joggers and dog walkers outside as the restrictions eased. For now it is not clear as to how many shops would be opened this week but the delivery apps have indicated a slowdown in demand for the services on May 17, 2022.

One of the social media accounts that is run by the official People’s Daily newspaper of the Community Party, posted pictures from May 16, 2022 that had shown restaurants, breakfast joints and hairdressers opening up their establishments. But a few social media users had denied that the pictures were real.

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The series of lockdowns and testing are expected to begin from March 28, 2022 and will last until April 1, 2022 in the areas east of Huangpu River. Later the areas west of the river will also undergo restrictions and testing from April 1 and will continue till April 5. The authorities have taken the move as the city reportedly nearly 2,600 cases of COVID-19 on March 27, 2022 after it faced just a handful of cases earlier in March. Meanwhile, the other cities in China have adopted the zero-tolerance approach to COVID. The measures taken in Shanghai are the closest to the full-scale measures that have been taken to deal with the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.

It was last week when the officials in Shanghai had denied the reports that had claimed that it had implemented a complete city-wide lockdown as the number of COVID-19 cases surged to about 1000 on March 22, 2022. This was the time when the authorities had said that they would be adopting the slicing and gridding approach that would test the neighborhoods for infections instead of shutting down the city itself. One of the city officials urged not to believe in false reports and not to spread any false rumours.

China had earlier imposed strict lockdowns in a number of cities due to a sudden surge of the cases. A number of manufacturing units and transportation was shut down and only the essential services were allowed. The lockdown lasted for nearly a week and affected the supply chain of a number of products across the sectors.

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Fernandes while talking to a leading daily expressed that they believe that they are currently at the beginning of an end and added that the recovery is already under process. The AirAsia chief added that last year there was a point when none of their planes were flying but now majority of its fleet is flying domestic, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia as the demand remains robust. He has hopes that the international travel would get back to the pre-COVID levels around six months after the borders reopen again in the month of March, 2022.

It was in 2021, when fresh announcements were made regarding a quarantine-free travel in Asia. But soon a number of countries including India and Thailand reinstated restrictions on some of the arrivals as the number of omicron cases started to pile up. Fernandes added that reopening for China still remains a question as the country continues to pursue its zero-COVID policy. The AirAsia chief also mentioned about its ride-hailing business that is also performing well and has also exceeded expectations since its launch in August 2021.

The chief also said that the strategy of AirAsia will continue to remain the same when it had entered the low-cost airline market years ago. Fernandes said that it would continue to focus on efficiency that helps them towards the lower prices for its customers. The travel sector is still under the clouds due to the new variant but holidayers seem to be moving on with their plans.

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She has more than 110 million followers on social media and she has also sold products worth 8.5bn yuan in one evening during the recent Singles’ Day shopping festival in China on November 11, 2021. However, on Monday the tax authorities in the eastern province of Zhejiang said that Viya had evaded 643m yuan of taxes between 2019 to 2020 and also alleged that she concealed personal income by making false declarations. The authorities announced a 1.3bn yuan penalty and were announced all over the Chinese media. The matter also became one of the most searched topics on Weibo on Monday. On the other hand Viya said that she would accept the decision given by the tax authorities. She added that she is remorseful and apologetic towards the public.

Later on December 21, 2021 her social media accounts vanished from the major online platforms. There were no results when users searched for her Weibo and Douyin accounts. Tax evasion matters among the celebrities is not new in China. Actor Fan Bingbing was provided with a $129m tax bill in 2018.

In recent times, Chinese actor Zheng Shuang was provided with a $46m fine for tax evasion. The tax authorities in recent times have increased the scrutiny towards the online influencers. Two other live streamers were fined by the government for $14m.

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The shortages have become even more relevant as the term ‘everything shortage’ is being used by a number of people and describes the frustration of the consumers as they are trying to get their hands on all kinds of items including, toys, paper towels, milk and more. However, one cannot ignore the fact that the country is facing a shortage of everything. Reports say that the United States has imported plenty of stuff since the past eight months. This could be a reason that the country is facing a supply-chain congestion.

Tao make things more clear, the inventory sales ratio of the country can be observed. The US Census Bureau has tracked as to how much stuff the sellers have and how much stuff the consumers are actually buying. It is noticed that the ratio is on a ten year low which has indicated that the country is facing a shortage. On the other hand the Port of Los Angeles has informed about a 30 percent increase in the incoming cargo during the first nine months of the year.

The above information has indicated that the inventory to sales ratio is not low for the reason that the US is facing a shortage of stuff. It is happening for the reason that the sales have gone down. During the first nine months, in 2021 the retail sales was up by 14.5 percent over the same period in 2020, which was a year when the retail sales was 8 percent more than what it was in 2019.

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Now people from South Korea will also be able to Singapore from November 15, 2021. If the tourists have to be considered from the VTL countries, the visitors should have stayed in these countries for 14 consecutive days before their trip. During this time, the visitors will be allowed on multiple VTL countries or even transit through the above countries. People who are travelling under the VTL Scheme, will have to travel on a VTL designated flight that are mainly operated by Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines at the moment. More carriers are expected to be added in near future as the travel demand increases.

Moreover, it is obvious that the travellers will have to carry a proof of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. The vaccines should be those that are on the WHO Emergency Use List. But the residents of Singapore or EU who are unvaccinated and have recovered from COVID-19 are considered as fully vaccinated even if they have received at least one of the two doses of the approved vaccine.

The passengers who are arriving at Singapore will have to undergo a PCR test before they board the flight and take another test when they arrive at the Changi Airport. The short term visitors will have to purchase travel insurance that has a minimum coverage of SGD 30,000 for COVID-19 related medical treatment and hospitalization costs.

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Healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente along with Pfizer looked at the records from nearly 3.4 million residents from Southern California. Nearly a third of them were fully vaccinated between December 2020 and August 2021. It was observed that after an average period of three to four months the fully vaccinated people were found to be 73 percent protected against the infection and nearly 90 percent of them were protected against hospitalization.

However, the protection against the Delta variant had fallen by 40 percent over five months, but the protection against hospitalization in the cases from all the variants remained very high during the study. The decrease in the infection defense could be due to the decrease in the effectiveness of the vaccine rather than the delta variant while escaping the vaccine protection. The study has further suggested that looking at the figures, there could be chances that people might need booster doses so that the initial high amount of protection could be continued.

It was in the month of August, 2021 when the United States gave the green signal for a third booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine for people who are 65 years old or above or are having a week immune system. In France, the third dose is already being offered for the elderly citizens. Israel has taken a different step by offering the children above the age of 12 and older, a third dose of the vaccine, five months after they receive the second shot.

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Moreover, nearly 23 people in the northern city of Liaoyang had to be hospitalized with gas poisoning. The incident happened when the ventilation of a metal cast factory was shut after a power outage. However, no deaths have been reported. A number of factories had to be idled after they exceeded limits on energy use that was imposed by Beijing that helped to promote efficiency. As per an environmental group and economists, the manufacturers had used up this year’s energy quota faster than they had planned. This happened as the demand increased to a new level after recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

The country also has a component supplier for Apple’s iPhones and the production in its factory had to be suspended as per the orders from the local authorities. This is one of the busiest seasons in China for the manufacturers and the recent disturbance in the manufacturing has reflected the struggle of the Communist Party while bringing a balance of the economic growth while also looking after pollutions and emissions of the climate changing gases.

Ting Lu, Jing Wang and Lisheng Wang, the Nomura economists in a report said that the enforcement of the energy consumption limits by Beijing can be beneficial in a long term. But the short-term economic costs could be substantial.

The manufacturers are already facing a shortage of processor chips and there are also disturbances in the shipping process. China is considered as one of the biggest emitters of industrial gases leading to climate change and also consumes more energy per unit of economic output.

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The supplies that the cargo flight is carrying include water and propellant that would help to deal with the missions to be carried out in future. It is expected to dock the Tianhe space station of China that will become operational by 2022. CGTN, the official English broadcaster in China informed that the Tianzhou -2 , which is the predecessor of Tianzhou-3 separated from the core module of the space station and docked with the front facing port of the front module of the space station. The recent launch of supplies came after China had conducted a manned mission Shenzhou-12 on September 17 that had three Chinese astronauts. Three of the astronauts had returned to Earth after a three month mission that included two space walks.

The Shenzhou-12 was launched on June 17, 2021 and carried three astronauts who stayed in the under-construction space station. The return capsule of Shenzhou-12 had three astronauts, who touched down at the Dongfeng landing site. The successor Shenzhou-13 will be carrying three more astronauts to the space station, who will be remaining at the orbit for six months. Tianzhou-3 is reportedly carrying supplies for the crew of Shenzhou-13 that is scheduled to be launched in the month of October, 2021.

After the construction is completed, the Tiangong will become the only alternative to the US led International Space Station that could retire in 2024. China is excluded from the International Space Station and includes Japan, Canada, the US, the Russian Federation and the 11 members of the European Space Agency.

Photo Credits: CNBC