Alibaba Hit With Record 18.23 billion yuan Antitrust Fine 182亿罚款

Alibaba Hit With Record 18.23 billion yuan Antitrust Fine

Chinese regulators hit Alibaba with a 18.23 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) fine in its anti-monopoly investigation of the tech giant, saying it abused its market dominance.
Regulators opened a probe into the company’s monopolistic practices in December. The investigation’s main focus was a practice that forces merchants to choose one of two platforms, rather than being able to work with both.

The government said that “choose one” policy and others allowed Alibaba to bolster its position in the market and gain unfair competitive advantages.

In addition to the fine, which amounts to about 4% of the company’s 2019 revenue, regulators said Alibaba will have to file self-examination and compliance reports to the SAMR for three years.
The company said in a statement it accepted the penalty and will comply with the SAMR’s determination. Alibaba said it fully cooperated with the investigation, conducted a self-assessment and already implemented improvements to its internal systems.

“Alibaba would not have achieved our growth without sound government regulation and service, and the critical oversight, tolerance and support from all of our constituencies have been crucial to our development,” the company said.

The announcement is the latest development in China’s crackdown on its technology companies. Regulators have been increasingly concerned about the power of China’s tech giants, particularly those who operate in the financial sector.
阿里巴巴182亿天价罚单创世界反垄断史纪录
4月10日，阿里巴巴集团去年依据反垄断法被立案调查之事，终于有了结果。依据阿里巴巴集团在中国境内网络零售平台服务市场滥用市场支配地位的行为，市场监管总局对其处以行政处罚，责令停止违法行为，并罚款其2019年中国境内销售额的4%，计182.28亿元。

New Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine approved for clinical trials

A new COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinopharm has recently been approved for clinical trials.
The new recombinant COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the National Vaccine & Serum Institute, a R&D center of Sinopharm's bioscience subsidiary the China National Biotec Group (CNBG), got approval from the National Medical Products Administration on Friday, the CNBG said on its official Weibo account on Saturday.

The vaccine is based on the structural features of the receptor binding domain (RBD) on the virus' spike protein (S-protein). It uses genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the virus S-protein to induce neutralizing antibodies.

The company said that recombinant vaccine technology is mature and suitable for large-scale production. The production does not require facilities with high biosafety levels since the process does not involve live viruses.

The recombinant vaccine is the company's third COVID-19 vaccine. Last December, an inactivated vaccine developed by the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd. under CNBG became the first Chinese COVID-19 vaccine to have conditional marketing authorization.

In February, another inactivated vaccine from the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, a CNBG affiliate, was allowed to enter the market on a conditional basis.
More than 161.12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across China as of Friday, the National Health Commission said Saturday.
又一款国产新冠疫苗获批临床试验
4月10日晚消息，国药集团中国生物研究院重组新冠病毒疫苗于4月9日获得国家药品监督管理局临床试验批件。这是继国药集团中国生物两款新冠灭活疫苗后，又一技术路线的新冠疫苗获批临床，成为中国生物第三款新冠疫苗。
此前，中国生物北京生物制品研究所、武汉生物制品研究所两款新冠灭活疫苗已分别于2020年12月30日、2021年2月25日在国内获批附条件上市。

Low-income countries have received just 0.2 per cent of all COVID-19 shots given

Wealthier countries have received more than 87 percent of the world's COVID-19 vaccine supply, while low-income countries have received only 0.2 percent, the World Health Organization said at a press briefing Friday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – a fierce critic of wealthy countries buying up vaccine supply for themselves – blasted the scarcity of doses available for poorer nations.
More than 700 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, but there remains "a shocking imbalance in the global distribution of vaccines," he said.

He compared some high-income countries where one in four had received a shot to low-income ones, where fewer than one in 500 had done so.
"Let me repeat that: one in four versus one in 500," he said.
His target of seeing vaccination underway in every country by Saturday – the 100th day of 2021 – is set to be missed.
He said that out of 220 territories, 194 had started vaccination, while of the remaining 26, seven have received doses and are preparing to start, while a further five should take delivery of their first batches within days.
Of the remaining 14, some had not requested vaccines through the COVAX scheme, some were not yet ready, and some planned to start in the coming weeks and months.

"We're encouraged that almost all countries who want to start have now started," Tedros said.

"However, I emphasize the word start. Most countries do not have anywhere near enough vaccines to cover all health workers, or all at-risk groups – never mind the rest of their populations."
疫苗分配不平衡令人震惊，低收入国家只接种了0.2％的新冠疫苗
4月9日，世卫组织举行新冠肺炎例行发布会，世卫组织总干事谭德塞表示，大多数国家没有足够的疫苗来覆盖所有卫生工作者和高风险人群，在全球层面，疫苗分配不平衡的现象仍然令人震惊。目前全球已接种了超过7亿剂新冠疫苗，但高收入和中等偏上收入国家接种了超过87％的新冠疫苗，而低收入国家只接种了0.2％的新冠疫苗。在高收入国家中，平均有将近四分之一的人口接种了新冠疫苗。而在低收入国家，仅有不到五百分之一的人口接种了新冠疫苗。

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