Online transactions surge for UnionPay
ONLINE spending and transactions received a strong boost during the Chinese New Year holiday, thanks partly to the “stay put” policy, according to data from China UnionPay.
Over the seven days, online deals via UnionPay hit a record 1.38 trillion yuan (US$213 billion), up 4.8 percent over the same period last year.
The number of transactions made through its mobile app soared 30.7 percent year on year, with online payment services such as money transfer and online ticketing most favored by consumers, China UnionPay said.
Dining, shopping, travel and entertainment were the main drivers of people’s daily consumption during the holiday.
From a regional perspective, Chongqing City, Jiangxi Province and Qinghai Province recorded the fastest yearon-year growth in holiday consumption, each with a rise of more than 15 percent.
Transactions in daily necessities, large household appliances, hotel accommodation and catering enjoyed big growth, the banking card association noted.
In terms of daily necessities, for instance, the year-on-year growth rate of consumption in Shanghai, Zhejiang Province and Chongqing ranked among the top in the country.
Unlike earlier Spring Festival periods, consumption by “locals” jumped 13.6 percentage points compared with the same period a year ago due to the government’s call to stay put, UnionPay data showed.
Across the country, provinces such as Liaoning, Shandong, Gansu and Jiangsu had the highest increase of local consumption compared with the same period last year.
To boost consumption, China UnionPay said it teamed up with banks and nearly 600,000 merchants to offer consumers discounts and other benefits during the holiday.
THE World Health Organization says it will be sending more than 11,000 Ebola vaccinations to the West African nation of Guinea in the coming days to combat the recent epidemic of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has been declared in the country’s southern N’Zerekore region.
WHO regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said yesterday that 11,000 Ebola vaccines are being prepared in Geneva and are expected to arrive in Guinea over the weekend. An additional 8,600 doses will be shipped from the
United States. The vaccination campaign could start as early as Monday.
“Thirty vaccination experts have already been mobilized locally and are ready to deploy as soon as Ebola vaccines arrive in the country,” she said.
The WHO has called on six African countries to be on high alert for Ebola infections after both Guinea and Congo recorded cases.
“The sub-region is on high alert and surveillance in neighboring countries is ongoing,” she said.
“Our collective, quick action is crucial to avert an uncontrolled spread of Ebola amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already pushed health workers and health facilities to the edge.”
Guinea’s epidemic was declared after a crisis meeting on Sunday, less than a month after health officials detected suspicious cases with patients with symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding.
The sick had participated in the burial of a nurse who had died in late January and was buried on February 1 in Gouake, in the country’s south.
Traditional funerals in which people wash and touch the body of the deceased facilitate the spread of Ebola. It usually jumps to humans from infected animals, such as bats, and then spreads between humans via bodily fluids.
As of yesterday, Guinea has recorded three confirmed Ebola cases, including one death. Health officials hope to stem the spread of Ebola in West Africa, which experienced the deadliest outbreak in history from 2014 to 2016 that killed more than 11,300 people.