The cabinet equivalent, the Chinese State Council, held a meeting about recent protests against Xi Jinping’s government’s measures to contain the coronavirus in a strategy known as “covid-zero”. Without giving up its firm stance, the council decided that “provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities” should strengthen the vaccination of the elderly, paying special attention to Chinese women over 80 as they are more vulnerable to the virus.

Beijing has set a shorter interval between doses and approved new combinations of different vaccines to speed up vaccination.

The Chinese government has also instructed local authorities to adopt more “diverse” strategies in fighting the virus so that a single approach ends with “simplified” methods.

The board meeting was met with some disappointment by some market participants, who were expecting more tangible changes to the covid-zero policy.