China eases virus controls amid effort to curb protests
BEIJING – More Chinese cities eased anti-virus restrictions and police patrolled their streets Thursday as the government tried to defuse public anger over some of the world’s most stringent COVID measures and head off more protests.
Following weekend demonstrations at which some crowds made the politically explosive demand that leader Xi Jinping resign, the streets of major cities have been quiet in the face of a crackdown that has been largely out of sight.
Guangzhou in the south, Shijiazhuang in the north, Chengdu in the southwest and other major cities announced they were easing testing requirements and controls on movement. In some areas, markets and bus service reopened. A newspaper reported Beijing, the capital, has begun allowing some people with the virus to isolate at home, avoiding quarantine centers that have prompted complaints. The government didn’t immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
But many of the rules that brought people into the streets of Shanghai, Beijing and at least six other cities remain in force. The death of former leader Jiang Zemin this week could provide another opportunity for crowds to gather and potentially protest.
The announcements easing restrictions didn’t mention last weekend’s protests of the human cost of anti-virus measures that confine millions of people to their homes. But the timing and publicity suggested Xi’s government was trying to mollify public anger.
While experts say Beijing’s policies are unsustainable, they warn it can’t relax controls that keep most travelers out of China until tens of millions of older people are vaccinated. They say that means “zero COVID” might stay in place for as much as another year.
With a heavy police presence, there was no indication of protests Thursday. Notes on social media complained people were being stopped at random for police to check smartphones, possibly
looking for prohibited apps such as Twitter, in what they said was a violation of China’s Constitution.
Protesters have publicized protests on foreign social media the Communist Party tries to block access to, while videos and photos are deleted from services within China. But police appeared to be trying to keep their crackdown out of sight, possibly to avoid encouraging others by drawing attention to the scale of the protests.
On Thursday, the government reported 36,061 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, including 31,911 without symptoms. The industrial centers of Shenyang and Harbin in the northeast announced that students who attend school online and other people who have minimal interaction with others would no longer be required to take virus tests that have been administered as often as once a day.
In Beijing, some neighborhoods have begun allowing people with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 cases to isolate at home, the newspaper Yicai reported on its website. The anti-epidemic agency didn’t respond to questions sent to its office by fax.
The report gave no details, but a post on the social media account of the district government of Gaobeidian on Thursday said people who test positive can stay at home. It was later deleted.