World Coronavirus Dispatch: China recovery consolidates with record growth

Malawi to dump 16,000 AstraZeneca doses, Pfizer and White House plan booster shot 6-12 months after initial two, Hong Kong opens jabs to 16-year-olds and other pandemic-related news across the globe

A year after lockdowns, China sees record growth

A year after a coronavirus-led collapse, China has posted its strongest growth ever as the economy expanded by a record 18 per cent in the first quarter of 2021. The output shrank 6.8 per cent in the year-ago period. In a remarkable post-pandemic recovery, the growth rate in the first quarter is the highest since China began reporting quarterly GDP in 1992, surpassing the previous best of 15.3 per cent in the first quarter of 1993. However, when we compare with the previosu quarter, the economy has just grown by 0.6 per cent.