Some COVID curbs relaxed in China amid days of protests | Coronavirus pandemic News

Some authorities in China have begun to modify harsh COVID-19 restrictions, which have triggered protests in multiple cities across the country, including rare calls for President Xi Jinping to step down.

The anger erupted after a fire in a tower block in Urumqi in the far western region of Xinjiang in which 10 people died after being overcome by toxic smoke.

Protesters said firefighters had been unable to reach residents because of barriers erected as part of a prolonged coronavirus lockdown, although officials denied the building was sealed off.

The Urumqi blaze led to protests in multiple cities across China, including the capital Beijing and the country’s biggest city Shanghai, as frustration at the prolonged lockdowns and harsh restrictions associated with the government’s zero-COVID strategy boiled over.

There was a heavy police presence in cities where protests had been held, with officers in Shanghai moving to detain several demonstrators and taking them away in a bus. Barriers were also erected along the street where people had gathered over the weekend.

“People are not just demanding the restrictions to be lifted, they are demanding for freedom, for the rule of law, for democracy,” Human Rights Watch’s Senior China Researcher Yaqiu Wang told Al Jazeera. “People have pent-up anger towards the COVID policy but at the same time they know that the reason we still have abusive, unscientific COVID policies is because of the political system, because one man in Beijing — Xi Jinping — wants it. They are connecting the dots.”

Barriers along the street in Shanghai where protesters and police clashed
Barriers were set up on Shanghai’s Wulumuqi Road following the angry protests against China’s harsh coronavirus measures [Casey Hall/Reuters]

The spread of the highly-infectious Omicron BF.7 coronavirus subvariant is the most severe test of China’s approach to dealing with the virus since the first cases were detected in the central city of Wuhan three years ago.

Zhang Jun, the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, told Al Jazeera that China could not abandon zero-COVID.

“While some countries are moving in a different direction that’s at the sacrifice of the people,” he said from New York City. “They have so many people dead but that’s not the situation we want to see. Of course, you might say you prefer more liberty, more freedom, but then you have to be prepared to die.”

China’s National Health Commission reported 38,645 new cases of the virus on Tuesday, down slightly from the record highs of the past few days.

Seven people — all of them older than 80 — have died in China since the latest outbreak began. Beijing has pointed to the relatively low vaccination rate among older people, who are more susceptible to the disease, as one of the reasons it needs to persist with zero-COVID.

The Global Times, a state-run tabloid, said several cities were now “optimizing” their response “to take more targeted, science-based actions to curb flare-ups”, reflecting advice on COVID-19 responses announced earlier this month.

“The authorities have stressed that optimizing and adjusting the measures does not mean loosening prevention and control, nor is it a lifting of COVID-19 restrictions or “lying flat” in fighting the virus,” the newspaper said.

Two workers in white hazmat suits stand guard outside a Beijing apartment block that is surrounded by barriers.
Authorities in Beijing have said community entrances and firefighting access must not be blocked by barriers erected for COVID-19 lockdowns [Thomas Peter/Reuters]

Deliveries and transport services began operating again in Urumqi on Tuesday, with flights to some other Chinese cities also resuming, according to state media.

In the southern city of Guangzhou, which is home to some 19 million people, residents have been told they do not need to take COVID-19 tests daily if they are already staying at home, such as the elderly or students taking online classes, the Global Times reported on Tuesday.

In southwest Chongqing, people who live in areas with no positive cases in the latest five days will not be required to participate in mass testing, it added.

In the capital, authorities stressed on Sunday that firefighting access and community entrances could not be blocked during coronavirus lockdowns.

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