Chinese economy continues to plunge amidst the scourge of coronavirus. The Asian giant has had a handful from business to life losses, and it is threatening to cripple its economic power, setting the country up for a future full of uncertainties.

From tourism to manufacturing, China is helplessly watching unprecedented decline in its economy, instigating concern that the South Asia country may lose its status as world leading economy.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported the recent decline in the manufacturing sector that has added to the woes that the country is putting on a fierce battle to contain.

According to the report, China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 35.7 in February from 50.0 in January, below the 38.8 figure reported in November 2008.

The non-manufacturing PMI – a gauge of sentiment in the services and construction sectors, also dropped to 29.6 from 54.1 in January, the lowest since November 2011.

The figures are scary because the scourge is still much at large and there is no solution in the coming weeks. Experts had predicted 45.0 for the month of February which ended up a bit higher and sent a warning of expectation for the worst.

Ren Zeping, chief economist at Evergrande Research Institute said the movement of the negative impact should be monitored as a step to curtail its escalation.

“The economy experienced huge negative growth in February, the trough has been reached, the duration of the impact should be monitored in the next step,” he explained “It is the time to call for new infrastructure to turn the crisis into an opportunity.”

The index shows a worrisome decline in export, import and employment. China’s export order sub-index dropped to 28.7 from 48.7 in January while import fell to 31.9 from 49.0. In the manufacturing industry, production plunged 27.8 in February from January’s 51.3, reading for new orders nosedived to 29.3 from 51.4 in January.

Within the manufacturing industry, employment went down also following the steps of others. There was a decline of 15.7 points from January’s 47.5, an indication of slowed activities in the import and export space. Though experts said the situation is partly due to manufacturers finding it hard to recruit the exact workforce they need for specific roles, the high input price hub attributed it to high cost of manufacturing spurred by the disruption in the supply chain and distribution of logistics as a result of coronavirus.

“The pressure of imports and exports mounted over the manufacturing sector… some surveyed companies said that they had faced more order cancellations and delayed delivery,” Zhao Qinghe, senior statistician at the NBS said.

But he also expressed confidence that the coming month of March will yield positive results: “PMIs are expected to improve in March. The work resumption is ramping up and the market confidence is steadily recovering,” he said.

While focus has been on the manufacturing industry, other sectors of the Chinese economy are suffering greatly. The NBS said the automotive and specialized equipment industry were hit hard.

“There was a plunge in demand for consumer industries involving gatherings of people, such as transportation, accommodation, catering, tourism and resident services.

“Although the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has caused a larger impact on production and operations of Chinese enterprises… currently, the epidemic has come under initial containment, and the negative impact on production is gradually weakening,” the statement from NBS said.

Traditionally, companies in China close for the Lunar New Year celebration at this time of the year, but the period has been extended due COVID-19. Chinese businesses have found it hard to resume and it is having a negative bearing on the economy. The business activity expectation index was 39.7, from 58.7 that it was in January.

The economy is expected to show a weak growth in the first quarter of 2020 from the 6.0 percent where it was in the fourth quarter of 2019, the lowest growth in almost 30 years, mainly due to the trade war between China and the United States.

China has been noted to be defiant about the situation of its economy as a result of coronavirus impact. The country said the impact of COVID-19 will not affect its 2020 social economic goals. But Liang Zhonghua, chief macro analyst at the Research Institute of Zhongtai said the economy has been in trouble long before the outbreak of coronavirus and its impact will likely go beyond the disease.

“Looking forward, there is still a lot of economic loss that can never be remedied, even if the epidemic has passed. The mid and long-term impact of the epidemic cannot be ignored,” he said.

While the Chinese government appears to be downplaying the effects of the epidemic, private data is reporting a situation bleaker than what the government’s projection is saying.

February’s business conditions index compiled on Wednesday last week by Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) in Beijing, showed an all-time low drop of 37.3 from 56.2 in January, a massive decline in a short period which tells of futuristic misfortune for China.

While China battles to bring its economy back to track, a whole lot of factors are at play stymieing the efforts. The inability of workers to get back to work, the country’s debt pile that is at $34 trillion as of 2019, and may likely incur a heavy increase at the end of coronavirus.

Though the Chinese government has rolled out a series of financial measures to keep the economy afloat, which includes lowering borrowing rate, loan extensions, tax reductions and waivers, and an injection of RMB 200 million, it will only minimize the impact. The gap that coronavirus has created in the manufacturing industry and other sectors of the economy will need quite some time to be bridged.

Experts said that if the “recovery time” lasts longer than it should, it may create room for another country to take China’s place in the global economy. A little more push and the EU or Japan will find their places above the once south Asia bubbling giants, that’s, if these countries are spared the uncontaminated oxygen to make the needed push since they are all fighting to survive the coronavirus epidemic.

On Friday, 28th February, 2020, a screenshot of alleged news presented on AIT Facebook page went viral. In that screenshot was the face of a dark man and some write-ups claiming that the man in the picture (a Yoruba judging from the name provided) was the Nigerian that took the Italian man, who was recently diagnosed with COVID-19, to Ogun State. The ‘news’ claimed that the man, after testing positive to coronavirus, escaped from the hospital and threatened to infect many Nigerians with the deadly disease unless he is paid the sum of N100m. Whoever that wrote that ‘news’, supposedly the AIT, appealed to the general public to look out for and avoid the man whose picture was in the article.

When I saw that post, I didn’t know what to make of it. I know anything is possible in Nigeria but I found it hard to believe that someone could play such a stunt. So I took it with a pinch of salt and waited for more ‘news’ on the man.

The awaited news came in the form of a video that showed this same man addressing the public, saying he had never been to Lagos for the past two years. This man said he is from Edo State and that he has been with his family all these while. He even said he was with them when he received the rumour that he drove the white man to Ogun State and that he tested positive to the virus. From what he said, you can deduce that the picture was his but the name wasn’t. Anyway, what the public cares about is the picture and not the name.

AIT has denied posting this news and has issued a disclaimer, but then the damages had been done. This left some questions unanswered, which include, “Who spread that news?” “What was his/her intentions?” “How did they get the pictures and the names?”

The problem of fake news on social media didn’t start today. It is common on Facebook (just as this present one was also sent into Facebook). Years ago, one of my Facebook contacts complained that her friends noticed that she had different Facebook accounts with different names. She went in search of ‘her’ different accounts and truly found them. She screenshot like five of them and posted them for us to see. We saw the profile pictures and they were truly her pictures. We searched those accounts and saw that the people that opened these fake accounts monitored her seriously and ensured that all her picture updates were copied into those fake accounts. In fact, you will believe these accounts were hers except that her names were different. Whoever that went into the pains of creating those accounts obviously had some fraudulent intentions in mind.

This sort of thing is also becoming rampant in WhatsApp. The one they do in WhatsApp is actually hacking into people’s accounts and using them to beg money from their contacts or transact illegal businesses. A WhatsApp contact of mine recently sent messages across to his contacts stating that all should ignore any pornographic news or posts sent by his number because he just heard that some people are using his identity to advertise pornography and pornographic sites. He later found out that his account was hacked by an Italian tech company and all.

But the one that is more destructive, in my own opinion, is that which involves purporting fake news and inserting someone’s name and pictures to it. Or where true stories were told and your picture used as the “file photo”. Imagine waking up one day only to see your face plastered all over social media and a story that sounded like something from the moon told about you. The shock of hearing that you did what you didn’t do is enough to mess up your whole day. Believe me, things like these are damaging to the personality of the person who was “lied against”.

But that still hasn’t solved the issue of “who coined those stories and for what reason.” A lot of people may claim that the stories were made up by the ‘enemies’ of the person slandered. In as much as this is the only logical answer, I still want to call our attention to the fact that some people are just mischievous. It could be that, that viral news on the Uber driver that transporter the coronavirus victim was brought up out of mischief or it could be that the target wasn’t the man whose picture was plastered there. It is possible that the perpetrator of this wicked act was targeting AIT so as to drag them to the mud for damaging someone’s dignity. For that I think AIT needs to explain better how such news could be released on their page without their knowledge.

How to Avoid Being a Victim

It is almost impossible to avoid being a victim to this malicious act. You never can tell who the devil will send your way to tarnish your image. And avoiding using social media outlets still won’t save you. But you can take some precautions to minimise the chances of being the victim.

1. Be mindful of Your Photos: Getting someone’s picture is easy in social media, so there’s no need wondering how they did that. But one has to be careful with the kind of picture one puts up in social media. A girl on Twitter, some weeks ago, complained of a picture of her sitting with her girlfriends in a night party, or just girls’ hangout, was used as a file photo in news that told about some girls that went to night club and one or two things happened. Her picture was obviously chosen because she and her friends were scantily clad and the picture background matched the purpose of the message.
2. Be Predictable: Some people are easily predictable, concerning what they send into social media and the lives they live outside it. For instance, if this man that said he wasn’t the Uber driver wasn’t predictable (I don’t know if he is, anyway), there’s no way he will claim not to have been to Lagos for the past two years and people will believe him. In the same vein, my contact that sent out warnings about his account being used to advertise pornography wouldn’t have been warned by his friends if he had a shady life. This is just to say, that if people can predict what you can do, and what you will never do, fake news about you can easily be refuted by them before it even gets to you.
3. Send out Regular Disclaimers: This might sound funny but it helps. Whenever you see people claiming they didn’t do something or that they wouldn’t do something, don’t think they weren’t serious. Sometimes it is good to remind your contacts that they should be approached by ‘you’ for some transactions, they should call you first, hear your voice and verify that it was you. Otherwise, someone can use your identity and collect loans from people that know you. You should also be fast enough to disclaim any fake news about you. Don’t wait for it to linger because you believe that very soon people will forget. They may forget at that time, but you don’t know what it might lead to in the future.

Those people that easily circulate news articles that landed on the inbox need to verify to be sure what they are about to post out is authentic. For me, the easiest way I check authenticity of any news is to read national dailies such as Punch newspaper and co. But a lot of people are more in a hurry to post out “breaking news” than to be sure the news won’t bring them embarrassment.

But then, everyone needs to be on alert. Don’t assume that you are safe because it could be your turn tomorrow. Keep alert and always send out disclaimers to your friends to keep reminding them that you will not do anything to jeopardise your integrity.