Coronavirus in China: Beijing eases some restrictions due to protests, but maintains its “zero COVID” policy.

After a crowd this weekend called for President Xi Jinping to resign amid lockdown protests, Chinese authorities eased some restrictions on Monday, but reaffirmed the strict “zero COVID” strategy..

The government has not commented on the protests or criticism of Xi, the Communist Party’s biggest show of rejection in decades. there was not official information on the number of people detained after police used pepper spray on protesters in Shanghai and struggled to crack down on demonstrations in other cities, including Beijing.

The city government announced it would no longer install gates to block access to residential complexes where infections are found. He failed to mention last week’s deadly fire that sparked protests after angry questions online about whether firefighters or victims who they were trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other antivirus checks.

“The passageways must remain clear for medical transport, emergency escapes and relief efforts,” said city epidemic control official Wang Daguang, quoted by China’s official news service.

The “zero COVID”, a strict policy that is maintained

The “zero COVID” policy, which aims to isolate all infected people, has helped keep the number of cases in China below those in the United States and other large countries. But the inhabitants of some areas have been confined to their homes for up to four months and they say they lack reliable food supplies.

The ruling party promised last month reduce disruption to ‘COVID zero’ change the quarantine and other rules. But public acceptance is fading after a spike in infections prompted cities to tighten controls, fueling complaints that overzealousness is harming the public.

Monday, the number of the new daily cases were 40,347of which 36,525 without symptoms.

The newspaper of the ruling party, People’s newspapercalled for the anti-virus strategy to be implemented effectively, noting that the Xi he has no intention of changing course.

“The facts have fully demonstrated that each version of the prevention and control plan has stood the test of practice,” wrote a commentator on the newspaper.

Also on Monday, the southern manufacturing and trading metropolis of Guangzhou, the main center of the latest wave of infections in China, announced that some residents they will no longer have to undergo massive testing. The need to conserve resources was cited.

Protests have spread in at least eight major cities after at least 10 people died in an apartment building fire in Urumqi on Thursday.

Most protesters complained of excessive restrictions, but some chanted slogans against Xi, China’s most powerful leader since at least the 1980s.

In a video verified by Associated presschanted a crowd in Shanghai on Saturday “Xi Jinping! Quit! CCP! Quit!”.

Police disrupted that demonstration with pepper spray, but people returned to the same place on Sunday for another protest. A reporter saw an unknown number of people being taken away in a police vehicle after being arrested.

Elsewhere, social media videos claiming to have been filmed in Nanjing in the east, Chongqing and Chengdu in the southwest, and other cities, showed the protesters grappling with the police don white protective suits or dismantle the barricades used to seal off neighborhoods. Associated press he could not verify if or where all those protests took place.

Earlier, the ruling party faced public anger over the deaths of two children whose parents said virus checks hampered efforts to get emergency medical help.

Urumqi and a smaller Xinjiang city, Korla, have announced that markets and other businesses in areas considered to be at low risk of infection they will reopen this week and that public bus service would resume, in what appeared to be an attempt to appease the public.

It did not indicate whether residents in high-risk areas would be allowed to leave their homes.

Source: AP