It was all hands on deck this year as the company news desk retooled to cover a medical emergency the likes of which has not been seen in a century. Few stories from the past nine months were unrelated to the pandemic virus that has unraveled so many lives and livelihoods. Below are five worth revisiting.
They reveal how brave early efforts to spread information about the outbreak were throttled, and later, how appliances and manufacturing equipment were left humming along on empty worksites to game coronavirus recovery statistics. They document the mass distribution of vaccines by state giants outside of clinical trials, and the awkward turning point when China, which had long lobbied against border closures, began to face its greatest coronavirus threat from overseas. And they show how the suicide of a young shop keeper in Shenzhen forced reflection on the power of Tencent’s WeChat to effectively excommunicate people, leaving them little recourse.
- Flynn Murphy, Company News Chief
1. In Depth: How Early Signs of a SARS-Like Virus Were Spotted, Spread, and Throttled (First published Feb. 29, 2020)
Caixin traces early efforts to identify the coronavirus, and health officials' efforts to control the spread of information
2. China Faces Growing Virus Threat From Outside the Country (First published March 3, 2020)
County in eastern China reports eight new cases of Covid-19 brought back from Italy
3. Lights Are On but No One’s Working: How Local Governments Are Faking Coronavirus Recovery (First published March 4, 2020)
Firms pressured into switching on machines, faking staff rosters, and more to meet tough new back-to-work targets as new cases recede
4. Young Shopkeeper’s Suicide After WeChat Ban Highlights App’s Influence Over 1.2 Billion Lives (First published Aug. 28)
The man fell from Tencent’s customer service building, after apparently struggling in vain to find out the reason for his account’s suspension
5. Experimental Covid-19 Vaccines Given to Hundreds of Thousands of Chinese (First published Sept. 8)
Under emergency program, government permits expanding use of inoculations developed by China National Biotec Group, Sinovac and CanSino that are still in clinical trials
