China’s cities ease COVID-19 controls as online crackdown steps up

| More Chinese cities eased anti-virus restrictions and police patrolled their streets late on Thursday as the government tried to defuse public anger over some of the world’s most stringent COVID-19 measures and head off more protests.

Beijing has begun allowing some people with the virus to isolate at home, avoiding crowded quarantine centres that have prompted complaints, a newspaper reported. The government was not immediately available for confirmation of the report. While experts say Beijing’s policies are unsustainable, they warn it can’t relax controls that keep most travellers 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.

Protesters have publicised protests on Twitter and other foreign social media that 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.

The report gave no details, but a post on the social media account of the district government of Gaobeidian said people there who test positive can stay at home. It was later deleted. Washington is watching the “very heavy security” in Beijing and other cities with “great care and great attention,” Ambassador Nicholas Burns said in an online appearance to an audience in Chicago. He gave no indication the Biden administration was taking any action.The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs defended its virus response and dismissed US criticism.

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