China has applied for over 23,000 domestic patents on integrated circuits since 2008, an official told a press briefing Tuesday.

Over the last nine years, the country also applied for more than 2,000 international patents on integrated circuits, often known as chips, according to Ye Tianchun, head of the Institute of Microelectronics of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

In 2008, the State Council, China’s cabinet, approved a major project on integrated circuits.

Since then, more than 30 Chinese-developed devices and products have entered the market, raising some of the country’s tech enterprises to world-leading levels, said Ye.

The project set the country’s business innovation on the right track, as China previously relied heavily on imported integrated circuit products, said Chen Chuanhong, an official at the CAS.

“When our chips thrive, our economy will also prosper,” he added.

A total of 1,306 people died from infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in April, according to official data released Tuesday.

Up to 531,302 cases of infectious diseases were reported on the mainland last month, statistics from the National Health and Family Planning Commission showed.

Over 299,000 cases resulting in 1,294 deaths were classified as Class B diseases under China’s Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.

Viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhoea and bacterial and amoebic dysentery accounted for 94 percent of cases in this category.

Category C diseases were responsible for nearly 232,000 cases and 12 deaths. Foot and mouth disease, infectious diarrhea and influenza were the most prevalent in this category, accounting for 94 percent of the cases.

The top anti-graft body of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said Tuesday that 5,023 officials had been punished for violating Party austerity rules in April.

The officials were involved in 3,514 cases, according the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) website.

Awarding unauthorized bonuses was the most common misdemeanor, followed by misuse of public vehicles and giving or accepting gifts.

A total of 16,060 officials involved in 11,102 cases were punished in the first four months of 2017, the CCDI said.

The CPC released its eight-point rules on austerity in late 2012 to reduce undesirable work practices.

The CCDI has a monthly reporting system on the implementation of the rules within provincial-level governments, central Party and governmental agencies, centrally-administered state-owned enterprises and central financial institutions.

China published its first white paper on its Antarctic explorations on Monday, pledging to boost its capabilities in the exploration and study of the continent.

The paper says China will build a new permanent station and advanced icebreakers, develop aerial capability for survey and transportation, and design scientific apparatuses for the Antarctic environment. However, it does not elaborate on schedules and details.

The white paper, China’s Antarctic Programs, was produced by the State Oceanic Administration and released in Beijing on Monday, a day ahead of the 40th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, being held in the capital from Tuesday to June 1.

About 400 delegates from 42 countries and 10 international organizations planned to take part in the meeting, which is an annual decision-making session established under the Antarctic Treaty. It will be China’s first time to be host.

Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli will attend the meeting’s opening on Tuesday and will address the group, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news conference last week.

The main topics are to include the implementation of the Antarctic Treaty system, climate change’s impacts, tourism, and special protection and management regions, Hua said.

China signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1983 and became a consultative member two years later. It sent its first Antarctic expedition in 1984 and set up its first permanent station the next year. It now maintains four Antarctic stations－Changcheng, Zhongshan, Taishan and Kunlun, and has sent 33 expeditions.

Chinese scientists have chosen a site for China’s fifth Antarctic station, which will be near the Ross Sea, in the Southern Ocean, Lin Shanqing, deputy head of the State Oceanic Administration, said in April. He said that experts had inspected five locations including Inexpressible Island and the Brown Peninsula during the 33rd Antarctic expedition, which concluded in April.

Preparation work for the new station has been completed and construction will start as soon as 2018, Lin said.

China has also finished the site selection and survey for its first airfield in Antarctica, and construction is planned to start as early as the end of this year.

The airfield will be able to handle fixed-wing aircraft. At first there will be only one runway and fixed-wing aircraft will need to be equipped with a pair of runners to land, said Sun Bo, deputy director of the administration’s Polar Research Institute of China. Other planned runways in the same area will be flatter and thus capable of handling large airplanes not equipped with runners.

Several airports have started requiring Chinese passengers to present their ID cards to board domestic flights despite the fact they made the bookings with passports, causing confusion among fliers.

The new security rule had been introduced without notice at several airports by Monday afternoon.

According to customer service employees at airports that have adopted the rule, including Shanghai Hongqiao and Guangzhou Baiyun international airports, the practice started on May 8 and is a result of new guidelines from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

China Daily reporters contacted 29 airports in the four municipalities as well as 24 provincial and regional capitals on Monday. Customer service employees at 13 airports said Chinese passengers must present ID cards to fly domestically, even as a stopover on an international flight that was booked with a passport.

Details of the guidelines remain unknown, and the CAAC declined to comment.

The change has affected many passengers, including those who earlier traveled abroad with only a passport yet found they had to wait up to several hours for a temporary travel permit before they were allowed to transfer onto a domestic flight.

Chinese people who work and study abroad are among those affected.

“Many students, including me, usually leave our Chinese ID cards at home because they are no use in the U.S. and we can board domestic flights in China with our passports,” said Li Ye, 21, who is studying in New York.

“Many of my friends have decided to fly directly or stop over in foreign cities to bypass the new rule,” she said.

Customer service employees at Shanghai Pudong and Beijing capital international airports said Chinese passengers could still travel on domestic flights with passports, as they had not received any orders to the contrary.

“We strongly suggest people carry their ID cards if they plan to travel with their passports because the new rule may come into effect soon,” a security officer at Shanghai Pudong International Airport said on Monday.