China’s yuan weakened on Friday against the US dollar as concerns about the economy’s recovery trajectory weighed on investors’ minds after data showed COVID hospitalisations had reached the highest since the pandemic began. The number of people hospitalised with COVID-19 in China rose by 70% to 63,307 in the week through to Jan. 15, according to a weekly World Health Organization report on Thursday. The data compounded concerns that the COVID wave is spreading to rural areas with poor medical facilities, as millions of urban workers start travelling back to their home towns for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, ... (full story)