The main roads that run into the district of Haizhu stood almost silent this morning.
While such arterial roads would usually be teeming with traffic, there were just a handful of cars.
The reason for that was the big red barricades blocking the four-lane dual carriageway. Just a few cars made it past. Ours, along with most others, were waved away.
Beyond is a district in lockdown, home to the vast majority of Guangzhou’s COVID cases.
The city is responsible for around a third of China’s total infections.
Using another route, we were able to get closer, right up to a blue-fenced cordon.
This area was, unexpectedly, a hive of activity.
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People on mopeds slung extra supplies over the barriers while others stood on bollards to peek over the top, calling out to friends on the other side.
A community volunteer truck filled with food was permitted to drive in.
People stuck inside are allowed to leave their homes to buy food and get tested, but all other shops are closed, as are schools and offices.
It’s been this way for nearly a month and there’s a sense people are tired.
One man waved at us from behind the barrier and said: “Film my hands reaching out for freedom.”
He didn’t want to tell us his name, but he did want to tell us what this lockdown is like.
“The Government told us that lockdown would last three days. Then after [that] three more, then three more, and now three more,” he said from behind the corrugated iron fence. “We are frustrated.”
And although there are no reports anyone is going hungry, as happened in Shanghai earlier this year, he added: “Most supplies are in short supply because many places are locked down and people cannot move freely.”
But there is a sense a health crisis might well be under way. Cases are on the verge of hitting the highest numbers that have been seen at any point during the pandemic and the authorities have reported deaths for the first time in six months – three people in the last two days.
Across town a massive hospital is being constructed, a grim sign of what might be to come.
The government, it seems, is aware of the costs. It called last week for measures to be “optimised” to make the response more targeted and less blanket.
Some cities began experimenting with winding back mass testing.
But when faced with surging cases, under-pressure local leaders seem to be turning to the familiar playbook of closure and control.
In Guangzhou city centre, for instance, there are far fewer cases, but bars and restaurants have been ordered to shut.
Ms Chen, the manager at the How Rich bar, told us that they got the news just as they finished putting up their World Cup decorations. She says that even though she supports the policy, she was disappointed.
“The impact on our business is no earnings. We cannot work normally. Like an old saying says: ‘Stop working, stop eating.'”
Getting out of zero-COVID was always going to be incredibly difficult. There is a narrow line between testing and lockdowns, or cases and deaths, in a population with such low levels of immunity.
What’s clear is that zero-COVID will be tested in the coming days and weeks, as will the government response.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected ceasefire proposals because he says Hamas’s call for a withdrawal of all troops from Gaza and an end to the war is unacceptable.
Mr Netanyahu said agreeing to such proposals would “leave Hamas intact” and leave the possibility of another attack in future.
“Surrendering to the demands of Hamas would be a terrible defeat for the State of Israel,” he said in a video statement.
Mediated negotiations for a pause in the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas have been going on in Egypt, but a deal still appears some way off.
Hamas said in a statement on Sunday it’s “still keen to reach a comprehensive, interconnected agreement that ends the aggression, guarantees withdrawal, and achieves a serious prisoner exchange deal”.
The proposal mediators had put to Hamas set out a three-stage process for an immediate, six-week ceasefire and partial release of Israeli hostages, with some sort of Israeli pull-out in exchange.
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More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 77,000 have been wounded in Israel’s military operation, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel has said it remains committed to a ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million have fled in search of safety, as it tries to wipe out Hamas.
The UN and others have warned of catastrophe if it goes ahead.
The war began in October after Hamas killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, when it launched a surprise attack.
More than 200 were abducted and many remain as hostages, while others are thought to have died.
Countries in South and Southeast Asia have been coping with a weeks-long heatwave which has seen record temperatures sweep parts of the region.
Pupils in the Philippines, India and Bangladesh have been told to stay at home and learn remotely due to a severe health risk.
Schools in Cambodia have also cut back on their hours.
Cambodia faces its hottest temperature in 170 years, according to meteorologists – as high as 43C (109F).
Bangkok in Thailand has reached 40C (104 F), but the heat index is said to have topped 50 C (122 F) due to the heat being trapped among the mass of buildings.
The United Nations Children’s Fund warned in April that the heat could put the lives of millions of children at risk and asked people who care for them to take extra precautions.
A spokesperson for UNICEF said around 243 million children were exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves.
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They said the increased heat was “putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death”.
Thirty people in Thailand have died from heatstroke in the past month, according to data from the country’s health ministry.
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People are being advised to avoid outdoor activities and to stay hydrated.
Several towns in Myanmar were included on lists of the hottest spots globally last month, with temperatures reaching 48.2C (118F) in at least one case.
Parts of eastern India also experienced their hottest April on record.
Kerala, on India’s west coast, this week instructed all schools and colleges to close until Monday, while influencers in Bangladesh have encouraging people to plant trees in response to the record heat.
Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said there were three factors for heatwaves: a naturally-occurring climate phenomenon known as El Nino, an increase in global temperatures, and human-induced climate change.
Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela told Sky News that this week’s confrontation was the first time China had used “such aggression” against their ships.
“The metal parts and the railing were bent. The canopy was also destroyed. So this came as a surprise for us that China never hesitated to use brute force,” he said.
“It completely justifies us calling The People’s Republic of China a bully country.”
The Philippine coastguard was on a resupply mission to the Scarborough Shoal to deliver food and fuel to Philippine fishermen when they were struck.
The submerged reef lies in disputed waters. China claims sovereignty over the reef but it is much closer to the Philippines and lies within its legally recognised exclusive economic zone.
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The vessel Sky News was on board was the closest the coastguard had ever been to the shoal – just 600 metres away from it.
Asked if the mission to the shoal was a provocative move by the Philippine coastguard, Commodore Tarriela denied they were “poking the bear” but rather “driving the bear out of our own territory”.
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Sky witnesses China-Philippine confrontation
The Philippines has been stepping up its patrols in the area under the instruction of President Bongbong Marcos, and reasserting its claim to the shoal in recent months.
It has raised the spectre of open conflict. While neither side currently wants that, there is now a greater threat of open conflict.
Asked what the end game was for the Philippines, Commodore Tarriela said their priority was to “tell the world” about China’s aggression.
He said their secondary goal was to ensure “like-minded states” also made China “fall in line and respect international law”.
Philippine government policy is not to resist using water cannon against Chinese vessels – and Commodore Tarriela insisted that policy remains in place after the confrontation.
The government also remains intensely determined to protect the waters it believes it has every right to operate in.
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“We’re not going to yield and we’re not going to surrender a square inch of our territory,” Commodore Tarriela insisted.
Beijing has called the action its own coastguard took as “necessary”.
Speaking at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily news conference, spokesperson Lin Jian described the coastguard’s conduct as “professional, proper, and lawful”.