lockdowns

Oxfam International has a new report out today that highlights the rapidly widening gap between the few ultra-rich and the world’s poorest. The report, titled “Profiting from Pain,” found that during the first two years of the pandemic, a new billionaire was minted every 30 hours, with a total of 573 of the world’s richest becoming billionaires during that time frame.

Deaths from COVID-19 are on the rise again after several weeks of upward ticking case rates sparked by Omicron variants.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea imposed a nationwide lockdown Thursday to control its first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak after holding for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record keeping out the virus that has spread to nearly every place in the world.

Following President Xi's promise last week that the CCP would double down on its stringent lockdown policies, while also pledging to stamp out any dissent by locals who have grown frustrated with the government's insistence on enforcing its lockdown policies no matter how many people die of non-COVID illnesses, or how many suffer from shortages of food, medicine and other necessities in an economy where even disposable diapers are considered a frivolous luxury.

A new study published in the Royal Society Open Science journal found that lockdowns in the UK caused around 60,000 children to suffer clinical depression.

Hopes that the CCP might be easing its Shanghai lockdown were dashed this week as authorities loosened restrictions for manufacturers and others businesses, while mostly keeping restrictions on residential areas intact.

After roughly 4 weeks of intense lockdown measures that have left Shanghai's 25+ million people scrambling for necessary supplies like food and medicine, local authorities have loosened lockdown measures on Wednesday, allowing 4 million people out of their homes for the first time since the lockdown - initially imposed as a 9 day 'staggered' lockdown - began.

China’s strict system of censorship is struggling against the onslaught of complaints from Shanghai, as residents find creative ways to get around bans on words, hashtags and even lyrics from the national anthem.

While the world’s largest container port remains operational it is becoming increasingly congested, as trucking is severely constrained and warehouses closed since late March.

PPE-clad police in Shanghai this week pinned down and arrested residents who objected to their homes being turned into Covid quarantine centres.