Day: June 9, 2022

Shanghai and Beijing went back on fresh COVID-19 alert on Thursday after parts of China’s largest economic hub imposed new lockdown restriction and the city announced a round of mass testing for millions of residents.

The most populous district in the Chinese capital, meanwhile, announced the shutdown of entertainment venues, while news of the lockdown of Shanghai’s Minhang district, home to more than 2 million people, pulled down Chinese stocks.

Both cities had recently eased heavy COVID curbs, but the country has stuck with a “dynamic zero-COVID” policy aimed at shutting down transmission chains as soon as possible.

Shanghai residents in particular are on edge as new cases flare up after the city’s grinding two-month lockdown ended, with officials on Thursday tracing three infections to the Red Rose, a popular beauty salon in the city center that reopened when the city did on June 1.

The shop had served 502 customers from 15 of Shanghai’s 16 districts in the past eight days, a local media outlet, The Paper, reported.

“When is this ever going to end?,” a user of the Twitter-like Weibo commented on the Red Rose, which is in the trendy former French Concession area of the Xuhui district. “I just want to have a normal life.”

Authorities said a preliminary investigation found that some of the salon’s 16 employees did not undergo daily COVID testing as required, and that 90,000 people linked to Red Rose staff or customers had been tested.

While China’s infection rate is low by global standards, President Xi Jinping has doubled down on a zero-COVID policy that authorities say is needed to protect the elderly and the country’s medical system, even as other countries try to live with the coronavirus.

Shanghai’s two-month lockdown, the shuttering of many malls and venues across Beijing and movement curbs imposed in many cities in recent months have battered the Chinese economy, disrupted supply chains and slowed international trade.

Authorities have been keen to revive business and started to relax some curbs in May which helped China’s exports that month to grow at a double-digit pace, beating expectations, but residents, businesses and investors are wary. China’s blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300 ended 1.1% lower.

“The business climate is not positive because despite the fact that the cities opened, there is still the problem of the zero-COVID policy,” Christophe Lauras, president of the French Chamber of Commerce in China, told Reuters.

“That is to say that every morning people don’t know if they’ll be locked down,” he said.

Lockdowns and tests

Shanghai’s Minhang district said it will conduct nucleic acid tests for the entire population on Saturday and ordered residents to stay home in the meantime. Six other Shanghai districts, including some of its largest, also announced a round of mass testing for the weekend.

Several local-level authorities in Shanghai, which is home to 25 million people, have also issued notices saying residents will be subject to two days of confinement and another 12 days of rigorous testing starting Thursday.

Many of the notices were in the central Xuhui district, where green fences and red wooden boards have sprung up in the past week, barricading residents in and triggering fresh public anger.

In Beijing, authorities in Chaoyang district, home to more than 3 million people, ordered entertainment venues and internet cafes to shut on Thursday, while patrons of four bars were told to identify themselves and self-isolate.

China reported 240 new coronavirus cases on June 8, of which 70 were symptomatic and 170 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Thursday.

Source: Voice of America

Teslas with partially automated driving systems are a step closer to being recalled after the U.S. elevated its investigation into a series of crashes with parked emergency vehicles or trucks with warning signs.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday that it is upgrading the Tesla probe to an engineering analysis, a sign of increased scrutiny of the electric vehicle maker and automated systems that perform at least some driving tasks.

Documents posted Thursday by the agency raise some serious issues about Tesla’s Autopilot system. The agency found that it’s being used in areas where its capabilities are limited, and that many drivers aren’t taking action to avoid crashes despite warnings from the vehicle.

The probe now covers 830,000 vehicles, almost everything that the Austin, Texas, carmaker has sold in the U.S. since the start of the 2014 model year.

NHTSA reported that it has found 16 crashes into emergency vehicles and trucks with warning signs, causing 15 injuries and one death.

Investigators will evaluate additional data, vehicle performance and “explore the degree to which Autopilot and associated Tesla systems may exacerbate human factors or behavioral safety risks, undermining the effectiveness of the driver’s supervision,” the agency said.

A message was left Thursday seeking comment from Tesla.

tesla

An engineering analysis is the final stage of an investigation, and in most cases the NHTSA decides within a year if there should be a recall or if the probe should be closed.

In the majority of the 16 crashes, the Teslas issued collision alerts to the drivers just before impact. Automatic emergency braking intervened to at least slow the cars in about half the cases. On average, Autopilot gave up control of the Teslas less than a second before the crash, NHTSA said in documents detailing the probe.

NHTSA also said it’s looking into crashes involving similar patterns that did not include emergency vehicles or trucks with warning signs.

The agency found that in many cases, drivers had their hands on the steering wheel as Tesla requires, yet they failed to take action to avoid a crash. This suggests that drivers are complying with Tesla’s monitoring system, but it doesn’t make sure they’re paying attention.

In crashes were video is available, drivers should have seen first responder vehicles an average of eight seconds before impact, the agency wrote.

The agency will have to decide if there is a safety defect with Autopilot before pursuing a recall.

Investigators also wrote that a driver’s use or misuse of the driver monitoring system “or operation of a vehicle in an unintended manner does not necessarily preclude a system defect.”

The agency document all but says Tesla’s method of making sure drivers pay attention isn’t good enough, and that it’s defective and should be recalled, said Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor who studies automated vehicles.

“It is really easy to have a hand on the wheel and be completely disengaged from driving,” he said. Monitoring a driver’s hand position is not effective because it only measures a physical position. “It is not concerned with their mental capacity, their engagement or their ability to respond,” he said.

Similar systems from other companies such as General Motors’ Super Cruise use infrared cameras to watch a driver’s eyes or face to ensure they’re looking forward. But even these may still allow a driver to zone out, Walker Smith said.

In total, the agency looked at 191 crashes but removed 85 of them because other drivers were involved or there wasn’t enough information to do a definite assessment. Of the remaining 106, the main cause of about one-quarter of the crashes appears to be running Autopilot in areas where it has limitations, or in conditions that can interfere with its operations.

Other automakers limit use of their systems to limited-access divided highways.

In a statement, NHTSA said there aren’t any vehicles available for purchase today that can drive themselves.

“Every available vehicle requires the human driver to be in control at all times, and all state laws hold the human driver responsible for operation of their vehicles,” the agency said.

Driver-assist systems can help avoid crashes but must be used correctly and responsibly, the agency said.

Tesla did an online update of Autopilot software last fall to improve camera detection of emergency vehicle lights in low-light conditions. NHTSA has asked why the company didn’t do a recall.

NHTSA began its inquiry in August of last year after a string of crashes since 2018 in which Teslas using the company’s Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control systems hit vehicles at scenes where first responders used flashing lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board, or cones warning of hazards.

Source: Voice of America

A COVID-19 vaccine that could soon win federal approval may offer a boost for the U.S. military: an opportunity to get shots into some of the thousands of service members who have refused other coronavirus vaccines for religious reasons.

At least 175 active duty and reserve service members have already received the Novavax vaccine, some even traveling overseas at their own expense to get it. The vaccine meets Defense Department requirements because it has the World Health Organization’s emergency use approval and is used in Europe and other regions. The Food and Drug Administration is considering giving it emergency use authorization in the U.S.

The Novavax vaccine may be an acceptable option for some of the 27,000 service members who have sought religious exemptions from the mandatory vaccine. Military officials say many troops who refuse the shots cite certain COVID-19 vaccines’ remote connection to abortions.

Laboratory-grown cell lines descended from fetuses that were aborted decades ago were used in some early-stage testing of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and to grow viruses used to manufacture the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The vaccines do not contain fetal cells.

Novavax, however, says that ”no human fetal-derived cell lines or tissue” were used in the development, manufacture or production of its vaccine.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory last year, saying the shots were critical to maintaining military readiness and the health of the force. Military leaders have argued that troops for decades have been required to get as many as 17 vaccines, particularly for those who are deploying overseas.

One group involved in lawsuits targeting the military’s vaccine requirement said it’s possible some shot opponents may see Novavax as an amenable option.

“I definitely think it is for some, but certainly not for all,” said Mike Berry, director of military affairs for First Liberty Institute. “There are some for whom abortion is really the ultimate issue, and once that issue is resolved for them spiritually, then they’re willing.”

Berry added, however, that for others, abortion is “just a tangential issue,” and they have broader opposition to vaccines as a whole. “A rudimentary way of looking at it is that they’ve asked for God’s will, and they believe that it would be wrong for them to get the vaccine,” Berry said. “In other words, they believe that God has told them no.”

Novavax also may appeal to people who are uncomfortable with the new genetic-based technology used in Pfizer and Moderna’s so-called mRNA vaccines. They deliver genetic instructions for the body to make copies of the coronavirus’ outer coating, the spike protein.

The Novavax vaccine is made with a more familiar technology, like those used for years to prevent hepatitis B and shingles. It trains the body to fight the coronavirus by delivering copies of the outer coating which are grown in insect cells, then are purified and packaged into nanoparticles that to the immune system resemble a virus, according to Novavax research chief Dr. Gregory Glenn.

While some religious groups oppose the shots, when COVID-19 vaccines first started rolling out the Vatican’s doctrine office called the options “morally acceptable” and Pope Francis, who has received Pfizer shots, has strongly encouraged widespread vaccination.

Berry said he doesn’t know how many would consider Novavax acceptable, but guessed it may be a small percentage. First Liberty Institute and the law firm Schaerr Jaffe LLP are representing a number of Navy sailors in one lawsuit, and nine airmen in another.

Military officials declined to publicly detail the nature of any service members’ religious exemption requests, but spoke on condition of anonymity to provide some descriptions. They said that the most predominant issue mentioned in waiver requests is the remote link to fetal cell lines, while others argue that their body is a temple that must remain pure. Others, officials said, describe reasons that appear to have less connection to faith.

Berry said his firm carefully screens individuals for the lawsuits, to make sure their objections are based on sincerely held religious beliefs, rather than political or other opposition masquerading as faith-based views.

The military can’t administer the Novavax shot now, and won’t pay for anyone’s travel overseas to get it. But tens of thousands of American forces are based in Europe, where Novavax is available.

Earlier this week, advisers to the FDA backed the Novavax vaccine. Next, the FDA must decide whether to authorize it. A final FDA decision isn’t expected immediately, as the agency finishes combing through the data.

Across the military, more than 5,000 service members have been discharged for refusing the vaccine, according to the latest statistics provided by the services. Of those who requested religious exemptions, only slightly more than 100 have been approved.

In the lawsuit against the Navy, a federal judge in Texas agreed the case can go forward as a class-action lawsuit and issued a preliminary injunction barring the service from taking action against sailors who objected to the vaccine on religious grounds. Berry said the Justice Department has said it will appeal the ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In the Air Force lawsuit, Berry said, lawyers have asked that it also be a class action, and they are seeking a temporary restraining order preventing the Air Force from taking any adverse actions. The court has not yet ruled.

Source: Voice of America