New COVID vaccine 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, an 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 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. Telecom, online scams China has stepped up its efforts to crack down on rapid rising telecom and online frauds. Police across the country cracked 322,000 cases of telecom and online frauds last year, arresting 361,000 suspects, data from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) showed. Besides, 1.6 million fraudulent websites were blocked and 11,000 gangs were dismantled for perpetrating criminal activities using telephones or bank cards, the data added. Bilingual helpline The National Immigration Administration on Thursday launched a bilingual helpline and an English version of its official website, to make immigration information services more accessible The 12367 helpline is a Chinese/English, 24/7 service that answers queries concerning immigration policies and accepts complaints and suggestions from both domestic and overseas residents, the administration said. Powered by cloud technology and artificial intelligence, the helpline is also integrated with hotline services by border control authorities across the country, it said. Scientist wins award Chinese scientist Kang Le has won the 2021 Silverstein-Simeone Award, an international prize recognizing scientists for their outstanding work at the frontiers of chemical ecology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said last week. Kang, a researcher with the academy’s Institute of Zoology, bagged the award for cutting-edge research including his latest study which found that a smelly compound emitted by locusts can attract the insects in the wild to form a giant cluster. (SD-Agencies) | 