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China’s GDP up 3.2% in Q2, becomes 1st major economy to return to growth.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1194694.shtml China’s GDP up 3.2% in Q2, becomes 1st major economy to return to growth in wake of COVID-19

China’s GDP contracted 1.6 percent for the first time in the first half of a year in nearly three decades, battered by COVID-19 headwinds. But in the second quarter, the economy grew 3.2 percent, reversing from a 6.8-percent contraction in the first quarter, a sign of the resilience deeply rooted in China’s economy amid a global freefall when the coronavirus pandemic has plunged most major economies into a near standstill.

Retail sales plummeted 11.4 percent year-on-year to 17.22 trillion yuan ($2.46 trillion) in the first half. Industrial added-value contracted 1.3 percent, while fixed-asset investment slumped 3.1 percent to 28.16 trillion yuan, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.

The unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in June, a 0.2 percentage point decrease compared with May, the data showed.

“The second-quarter performance was better than expected, as production on the supply side picked up and investment caught up. The economy in the latter half of the second quarter moved from post-virus recovery to periodic climbing up to a certain extent,” Tian Yun, vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times. 

In June alone, retail sales sank 1.8 percent year-on-year, narrowing from a 2.8 percent contraction in May. Industrial value-added rose 4.8 percent, marking the third consecutive month of renewed growth.

Despite what might be the low single-digit growth in the second quarter, China could still achieve best-in-class results among the world’s major economies and lead the global recovery in the wake of the pandemic, analysts said.

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The world’s first phase three clinical trials for an inactivated COVID19 vaccine formally began in the UAE

The world’s first phase three clinical trials for an inactivated COVID19 vaccine formally began in the UAE Thurs, the result of cooperation between China’s Sinopharm and the UAE’s G42 Healthcare. The first group of up to 15,000 volunteers received the vaccine in Abu Dhabi. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-emirates-vaccine/chinas-sinopharm-begins-late-stage-trial-of-covid-19-vaccine-in-abu-dhabi-idUSKCN24H14T

The human trial is a partnership between Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG), Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company Group 42 (G42) and the Abu Dhabi Department of Health.

The study, which began on Wednesday, is the world’s first Phase III trial of an inactivated vaccine, G42 Healthcare CEO Ashish Koshy said. Inactivated vaccines are well known and have been used against diseases such as influenza and measles.