Coronavirus: Thread

[grarpamp]

Authoritarian Lunacy... 1.2+ Billion people,
not so much as ten of them bother to revolt.
Sad day for humanity.


Shanghai Lockdowns Force Bankers And Traders To Sleep In The Office

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-wall-street-bankers-traders-sleep-offices-beat-shanghai-covid-lockdown-2022-03-29/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/world/asia/china-shanghai-covid-lockdown.html
https://twitter.com/DavidZhangEET/status/1508594922529734672

As it turns out, China's factory laborers aren't the only ones who are
being forced to quarantine at work (with many sleeping on factory
floors with only a piece of cardboard as a mattress) during the latest
round of "targeted" CCP lockdowns.

Bankers, traders and other white-collar workers on China's Wall Street
are also finding they have no choice but to ride out the lockdown at
the office, as management demands that workers bed down for a long
stretch without going home.

According to Reuters, "more than 20,000 bankers, traders and other
workers are bedding down in office towers in Shanghai's Lujiazui
district as they bid to keep China's giant financial hub ticking"
during the first round of the city's two-part staggered lockdown.

As the section of Shanghai east of the Huangpu River closes for a
total of five days, finance workers are scrambling to make sure they
can continue to work throughout the nine-day shutdown (which could be
extended if case numbers fail to decrease). Teams have reportedly
adopted 12-hour split-shift rotations in a financial hub that handled
more than 2,500 trillion yuan ($292 trillion) of financial
transactions last year.

A handful of local firms have confirmed the strategy, according to Reuters:

    Amundi BOC Wealth Management said its senior executives, as well
as key investment, trading and risk-management staff are all working
and sleeping in their offices. And they're far from the only ones.
    Haitong Securities said Chairman Zhou Jie arranged emergency
on-site duty shifts at its subsidiaries in Pudong on Sunday night
before leading more than 150 key staff to work in offices starting
Monday. The brokerage has also resorted to two-team rotation shifts
between its two office areas, it announced.
    HFT Investment Management, BNP Paribas' Chinese fund joint
venture, has placed 52 workers in offices to work around the clock
during the lockdown period.
    Sinolink Securities issued a notice on Sunday night calling on
staff to rush back to its headquarters in Pudong before midnight, so
as to "ensure continuity of system operation and trading".

The number of new confirmed community transmitted cases in the major
financial hub of Shanghai reached 4,477 on Tuesday. Although this
number was a record high, only 2.1% of cases showed symptoms.

Restive Shanghai residents have at times pushed back aggressively
against the government's heavy handed measures, even before the
broad-based lockdowns were announced (previously, the local
authorities had implemented "targeted" lockdowns on housing complexes
and other areas where outbreaks had been discovered). Some residents
lashed out as they were unable to receive vital services like kidney
dialysis or other urgent treatment. In one high-profile case
highlighted by the NYT, a nurse who suffered an asthma attack died
after she was denied care by a hospital, which cited COVID prevention
protocols in its decision to turn her away.

As frustration builds, the CCP is once again resorting to baseless
conspiracy theories - including telling its citizens that the US is to
blame for the rise of COVID - to try and deflect public anger away
from the government.

    Chinese media is telling their citizens America made COVID-19,
again—this time using #Moderna as the scapegoat. #China’s COVID-19
cases are rising, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is blaming the
United States for it.

    🔥WATCH HERE 👉https://t.co/g50cMPnt6E pic.twitter.com/fBbVVAJeuA
    — David Zhang (@DavidZhangEET) March 29, 2022