Top news & searches: BRICS Summit; Salary decline for nucleic acid sampler; Health codes
Top news & searches: BRICS Summit; Salary decline for nucleic acid sampler; Health codes
BRICS countries, as important emerging markets and major developing countries, need to act with a sense of responsibility to bring positive, stabilizing and constructive strength to the world.
Too many are going on in China today. Nucleic acid testing stations all over China need samplers, but the oversupply of staff are causing the salary to drop. Dispute broke out between a police officer and two citizens on Thursday when they were pulled over for yellow health codes at a crossroads in Dangdong, a city in China's Northeast Liaoning province. Netizens discuss the case heatedly, and the special commentator of Global Times offered his insight.
But the highlight of the day is the ongoing BRICS summit. BRICS is the acronym of five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The governments of the BRICS states meet annually at formal summits, and this year, the 14th BRICS Summit is held under China’s Chairship. Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the 14th BRICS Summit in Beijing via video link on June 23, according to Xinhua.
The section below is a English readout of Xi's speech on the summit. Xinhua News Agency has released the English readout, the Chinese readout, the full text in Chinese, and its English translation.
On the evening of June 23, President Xi Jinping hosted the 14th BRICS Summit in Beijing via video link.
President Xi noted that over the past year, the world has faced the continued spread of COVID-19, a tortuous world economic recovery and increasingly salient peace and security issues. Facing the formidable and complex circumstances, BRICS countries have embraced the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, enhanced solidarity and coordination and jointly tackled the challenges. The BRICS mechanism has demonstrated resilience and vitality. BRICS cooperation has achieved sound progress and results.
President Xi stressed that this Summit is held at a critical juncture in the shaping of the future course of humanity. BRICS countries, as important emerging markets and major developing countries, need to act with a sense of responsibility to bring positive, stabilizing and constructive strength to the world.
President Xi said that first, we need to speak out for equity and justice. We need to encourage the international community to practice true multilateralism and uphold the international system with the UN at its core and the international order underpinned by international law, and urge the world to reject the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation, oppose unilateral sanctions and abuse of sanctions, and reject the small circles built around hegemonism by forming one big family belonging to a community with a shared future for humanity.
Second, we need to remain firm in our conviction that we will defeat the pandemic and act responsibly to protect our peoples and their lives. We need to build a strong line of defense against the virus, enhance international COVID response cooperation, and jointly defend people's lives and health.
Third, we need to pool strength for economic recovery, step up macro policy coordination, keep industrial and supply chains secure and unclogged, build an open world economy, and forestall and defuse major risks and challenges in global development, to work for more inclusive and resilient economic growth.
Fourth, we need to advocate sustainable and people-centered development, invest more in poverty alleviation, food, education, health and so on, and promote the implementation of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to bring stronger, greener and healthier global development.
President Xi said he looks forward to an in-depth and vibrant discussion under the theme of "Fostering High-quality Partnership and Ushering in a New Era of Global Development" to jointly contribute wisdom and ideas to the high-quality development of BRICS cooperation.
Thursday's top 10 trending searches on Wechat as of 5:00 p.m. (0900 GMT):
#1 High school entrance examination results to be announced starting today
高考成绩今起陆续公布
#2 Tangshan requires full coverage of community surveillance cameras -- chinanews.com.cn
唐山要求社区视频监控全覆盖
In his inspection of the city, secretary of Tangshan municipal Communist Party of China Committe Wu Weidong said that surveillance cameras should cover all areas in the city to protect the lives and property of people in Tangshan.
Tangshan has been hovering on trending searches of China's social media for weeks. On June 22nd, 16th, and 14th, and today, Tangshan occupies the first position of top searches all along. It shows that China's public are really concerned about the fight against evil forces in the city, and eager to know every update.
#3 Nucleic acid sampler oversupply causes a salary decline
核酸采样员供过于求薪水下滑
#4 Bank clerk absconds with 2 million yuan (about 300,000 U.S. dollars) for 20 years -- chinafundnews
银行储蓄员携200万潜逃20年
A clerk named Li Wei in Beijing found a loophole in the bank he worked and took out 2 million yuan from the safe on his own in 2003. The clerk had been hiding for almost 20 years until he was captured by the police in January, 2022. Li was put on trial in March and the case is still being processed by the court.
#5 Three people rescuing kids from drowning are deemed as good samaritans
北京三人施救落水儿童被认定见义勇为
Three people saved three kids from drowning in Yongding river in Beijing on Sunday. Civil Affairs Bureau of the local government praised their deeds and deemed them as good samaritans. One of the heroes died during the rescue, unfortunately.
#6 Police reports a woman and her father attacking police after being pulled over because their health codes were yellow.
警方通报父女黄码看病被拦后袭警
#7 NIO car rushes out of the company's Shanghai headquarter, causing one death and one injury [update: The injured one died on Thursday at the hospital]
蔚来汽车冲出上海总部大楼1死1伤
According to NIO's Weibo account, a testing car on Wednesday fell from the third floor parking lot in Shanghai, killing two test drivers. The incident is still under investigation.
#8 It takes three years to withdraw 460,000 yuan (about 68,000 U.S. dollars) from Yu'ebao: Alipay's response
支付宝回应46万转余额宝3年才能取
A customer found that he cannot withdraw money from Yu'ebao, an internet financing tool of Alibaba, for 1083 days. The restriction was lifted later on after he uploaded related materials to Alipay customer service. Then, Alipay's security center responded that transfers are normal for ordinary accounts. The frozen accounts might be involved in illegal activities like online gambling and telemarketing fraud. This is done automatically to protect users' property. If it is a mistake, users can appeal after 48 hours.
#9 Dong Yuhui responds to his popularity going down -- Video, [in Chinese]
董宇辉回应热度下降
"The popularity will definitely go down, all the media resources should not be put onto someone who sells goods on douyin," said Dong Yuhui in an interview with China Daily on Thursday. Dong, a streamer who used to be an English tutor, repeatedly secured headlines for his persona in recent days. See GRR's post about him on top searches of July 16th. He said that ordinary people's stories are more powerful than his story, and all he wants right now is to sell agricultural products well online so that Chinese farmers would benefit from the business. As for future plans, Dong wishes to teach students in rural regions one day, for he has been a teacher for years.
#10 Murdoch is exposed to having his fourth divorce at the age of 91 -- The Washington Post
91岁默多克被曝将第四次离婚
#3 Nucleic acid sampler oversupply causing a salary decline
In the fight against COVID-19, China has taken the strategy of mass testing to spot infections early on. Many cities thus curb rounds of epidemic before large-scale community transmission occurs. However, mass screening requires trained manpower. At one point, positions like nucleic acid samplers attracted folks from all walks of life because of the high payment resulting from staff shortages. As this round of epidemic wanes accross China and staff problems get gradually resolved, Nucleic acid samplers are facing a decrease in salary.
Exclusive survey｜Oversupply of nucleic acid samplers: queuing for jobs, salary decline -- Yicai
After Yicai's reporters sorting out information gathered from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities, they found that the positions related to nucleic acid sampling are subdivided into samplers, QR code registrars and volunteers. For QR code registrars and volunteers, basically no rigid medical background and nursing-related documents are required. So a lot of people from other industries switch careers or work as part-time QR code registrars and volunteers. As for nucleic acid samplers, employers would only take candidates with nursing certifications and PCR certifications.
Reporters of Yicai checked the information of several platforms and found that nucleic acid samplers are basically required to hold certain qualifications, such as physician certifications and nursing certifications. Therefore, most of the samplers come from hospitals, nucleic acid testing institutions or individuals with medical and nursing-related qualifications.
But the situation in Shanghai is slightly different. According to information from authorities, there are 20,000 regular nucleic acid testing sites in Shanghai, and the nucleic acid sampling work was previously undertaken by medical and nursing staff, but after the normalization of social sampling, medical and nursing staff cannot meet the large sampling needs, so districts in Shanghai are recruiting workers from the society in an emergency for testing stations.
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According to major recruitment platforms in several major cities, nucleic acid samplers' salary is paid monthly or weekly. The salary generally reaches 400 to 500 yuan per day, or 6,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan per month. As for part-time registrars and on site coordinators, the salary stands at 25 yuan to 50 yuan per hour, and the payment is settled every week. Therefore, most nucleic acid samplers don't get the alleged 1000 yuan daily salary.
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In order to standardize the nucleic acid sampling process and to improve the accuracy of sampling, on June 13, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council issued a notice on further strengthening the quality management of nucleic acid sampling for COVID-19.
The notice clearly requires that all places should strictly manage the qualifications of nucleic acid sampling personnel. And on the current basis of medical personnel, cities will recruit staff with health related qualifications from private hospitals, pharmacies, infirmaries and public institutions to join the sampling teams. The recruited members will be trained and assessed by the health administration department first before they start working. The coordination of nucleic acid samplers should not occupy normal medical resources, and people's access to medical care must be protected.
The requirements for being a nucleic acid sampler will continue to be held high, as the government is determined to standardize the testing process and ensure its accurrency. Therefore, the zeal of laymen being samplers is likely to cool down. And it's better to leave the professional work to the professionals.
#6 Police reports a woman and her father attacking police after being pulled over because their health codes were yellow.
A woman and her father were involved in a conflict with a police officer on Thursday when they were pulled over becasue their health codes were yellow. The incident happened at a crossroads in Dangdong, a city in China's Northeast Liaoning province. The father hit the officer in the face, said the police report.
According to the current colored health code system, a yellow code indicates the person is under medium risk of COVID-19. Read more about China's colored health code system on Pekingnology.
The father and the daughter were taken into custody and the daughter will be detained for 10 days, according to the local police report.
The special commentator Hu Xijin of Global Times, posted his views of the case on his weibo account.
The facts of the Dandong assault case are clear: a woman and her father broke into a police post and the father hit the police.
Under normal circumstances, people would support legal measures against the father and daughter who broke the law, however this time the public was almost overwhelmingly against the Dandong Public Security Bureau's briefing and the police became the criticized one.
The root cause, I think, is that the video showed that the daughter was taking her father to the doctor (the follow-up showed that they were on the way to pick up medicines).
The disruption of normal medical care is one of the manifestations of “一刀切”one-size-fits-all epidemic prevention that people distaste the most.
And the video also shows that although the father and daughter were given yellow codes, they got a certificate from the community to see the doctor (a certificate from the community to pick up medicines circulated online later, so it seems that further details of the incident are to be added), as well as negative nucleic acid test results of that day. In the repeated frictions of seeing a doctor during the epidemic, China’s public has formed a consensus that the police should provide assistance in the scenario.
Another reason is that Dandong has been under lockdown for too long, so that’s why the local public reacted strongly to the incident, which has also received increasing sympathy from the Internet.
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This is a very grassroot friction between the police and the public. From the perspective of maintaining police authority, the Dandong police do have a legal basis to detain the father and daughter.
But the phenomenon that public's judgment and judicial authority clashed violently in this case, is worthy of deep reflection for the Dandong police, as well as law enforcement in the country.
The woman in the incident claimed that she had a 48-hour nucleic acid pass and a community certificate, while his father did not have the certificate. Considering the epidemic is not over, she will follow the rules, but she will also appeal to authorities, according to China Internet Information Center.
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