Hong Kong Bags Historic Gold at Olympics, People in Britain May Be Deleting Covid-19 Tracking App to Avoid Self-Isolation, Nanjing Braces for Floods

Here is today’s ranking of the 10 most-read news stories in China, in economics, finance and current affairs, to help give you a sense of what’s trending in the Chinese language sphere.

Chinese social media users have been paying close attention to the Covid-19 flare-up in Nanjing where 106 cases were confirmed. They are also following the country’s reforms over after-school educational service companies.

1. China urges U.S. to lift sanctions, visa restrictions on Chinese citizens

China’s foreign minister urged the U.S. to lift sanctions and a technology blockade against China and spelled out three baselines for keeping relations from going off the rails in a meeting Monday with a senior U.S. diplomat in the northern city of Tianjin.

2. Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long wins historic gold in Tokyo

Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long (external source, in Chinese) defeated Italy’s Daniele Garozzo to win the gold medal in the men’s individual foil competition on Monday night, the first Olympic gold medal won by the Hong Kong team after the handover.

3. Delta variant identified in Nanjing Covid-19 flare-up

Nanjing, the capital of East China’s Jiangsu province (external source, in Chinese), has reported a cumulative total of 106 confirmed Covid-19 cases as of Monday. Local authorities said Tuesday that the strain of the virus behind the cases has been identified as the highly infectious Delta variant.

4. People in Britain may be deleting Covid-19 tracking app to avoid self-isolation

British politicians and scientists are concerned that people are deleting the official Covid-19 tracing app (external source, in Chinese), or turning off the tracking function, to avoid self-isolation. According to a U.K. poll cited by Bloomberg, more than 30% of the British public between the ages of 18 and 34 have uninstalled the official tracking app.

5. After Covid-19 flare-up, Nanjing braces for flooding

As Nanjing battles a surge in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases (external source, in Chinese), the rain brought by typhoon In-fa is expected to bring more challenges to the eastern Chinese city.

6. Nanjing flare-up shows epidemic prevention measures far from foolproof, expert says

Zhang Boli, president of the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (external source, in Chinese), said the current virus resurgence in Nanjing “shows that there are still loopholes in pandemic prevention. We should be highly alert.”

7. Significant increase in antibody levels after third dose of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine, study says

A third shot of Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine (external source, in Chinese) given six months or more after the second dose results in a significant increase in antibody levels, and the first two shots appear to produce good immune memory, according to a study published on the medRxiv website.

8. Nanjing bans entry of courier and delivery personnel into residential areas

The Nanjing government (external source, in Chinese) announced Monday courier and delivery personnel will not be allowed to enter residential areas, and that it will fully enforce strict control of access to all neighborhoods and 24-hour security in communities.

9. China spells out sweeping reforms to turn after-school tutors into nonprofits

China is introducing sweeping changes to the after-school tutoring industry which will turn some existing businesses into nonprofit institutions, bar them from public market financing and prevent the creation of new businesses providing school curriculum subjects, according to a newly released statement.

10. Cases related to Nanjing Covid-19 flare-up found in five Chinese provinces

As of Tuesday, nine cities in five Chinese provinces (external source, in Chinese) had reported positive Covid-19 tests linked to the outbreak at an international airport in Nanjing.

Translated by intern reporter Chen Bingyi.

Caixin has not independently verified the veracity or accuracy of all of the headlines.

The daily ranking of most read news stories among Chinese people, about China and global affairs, is jointly provided to you by Caixin Insight and HANA Data, an artificial intelligence technology team.

The key indicators calculated on the list are based on mass data sourced from China’s mainstream social media platforms and online news websites. Click here for a detailed introduction of our methodology.