Nucleic acid tests Shanghai authorities have carried out nucleic acid tests for staff workers at Shanghai Pudong International Airport after several confirmed COVID-19 cases were linked to airport personnel. The National Health Commission said on Monday that it received reports of two new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases from Shanghai. The two local cases are both residents in Pudong New Area in Shanghai and close contacts of two previously confirmed local cases. COVID vaccines Five Chinese COVID-19 vaccine candidates are under Phase III clinical trials in countries including the UAE, Brazil, Pakistan and Peru, according to China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on November 18. He explained that the five vaccines are: two inactivated vaccines developed by the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), one inactivated vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech Co., one adenoviral vector vaccine jointly developed by the Academy of Military Sciences and the Chinese biotech company CanSino, and one recombinant protein vaccine developed by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy. Ancient bathhouse Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient Romanesque bathhouse dating back to the 10th century in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with relics featuring China’s Central Plain and local cultures unearthed. Covering an area of 400 square meters, the ruins are located in Qitai County, the Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Changji, and consist of a brick main structure flanked by wells, an adobe structure on the east side as well as a site for its furnace. The main structure has two parts. The underground part was used for flues and heat supply. The surface structure was where people took baths. Cultural relics After being abroad for decades, 68 Chinese cultural relics lost to the United Kingdom recently returned to their homeland thanks to the joint efforts of the two countries, according to a news conference of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. The relics span a millennia of time periods ranging from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and they encompass a variety of items including porcelains, copper wares and stone artifacts. (SD-Agencies) | 