COVID-19 vaccine

China’s first patent for a COVID-19 vaccine has been granted by the National Intellectual Property Administration.

The patent was jointly applied for by a research team with the Academy of Military Sciences and CanSino Biologics Inc., a Chinese high-tech biopharmaceutical company, said a report in People’s Daily. The team led by Chen Wei, a researcher at the Institute of Military Medicine under the academy, developed the recombinant COVID-19 vaccine, with the modified defective adenovirus as the vector. Experts have called adenovirus vector vaccine a promising technique for its safety and potency against COVID-19 based on current evidence, as well as its potential in mass production.

Food vloggers

On Chinese short-video platform Douyin, a catchline reading “say no to food waste, eat smart, live healthy” will appear at the top of the search results upon punching in keywords like “big eater” or “mukbang.”

“The behavior of some food vloggers entails serious wastage of food.” Following this comment by China’s State broadcaster CCTV earlier last week, many short-video and live-streaming platforms have beefed up scrutiny over related content as part of an effort to curb food wastage.

Macao to reopen

Exit and entry departments of public security organs will gradually resume the handling of Chinese mainland residents’ tourist endorsements for individual or group tours to Macao, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) said on August 11.

According to a notice released by the NIA, residents of Zhuhai in Guangdong Province are able to have their tourist endorsements handled from August 12. The resumption is expected to be expanded across Guangdong from August 26, and across the country from September 23, if the COVID-19 prevention and control situation stays stable in both the Chinese mainland and Macao.

HK transit service

Travelers from the Chinese mainland will be able to transit in Hong Kong International Airport to other destinations through October 15, but the transit service for the other way around is still suspended, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said on Thursday.

Hong Kong airport has resumed transit services since June 1. Passengers are required to have boarding passes under the same ticket if their connecting flights are operated by different airlines. (SD-Agencies)