Reforming the Communist Party’s zero-tolerance approach for preventing disease spread in the United States and addressing the future public health crisis
Health experts and economists expected the ruling Communist Party to keep restrictions on travel into China until at least mid-2023 while it carries out a campaign to vaccinate millions of elderly people. It is necessary to prevent a public health crisis.
The new measures were announced Friday following a meeting by the ruling Communist Party’s top decision-making body, during which leaders vowed to maintain Covid protocols while stressing the need to minimize economic and social disruptions.
The Financial Times reported last Friday that China may have caught Covid in the first 20 days of December, according to a figure presented during an internal meeting of the National Health Commission. Sources familiar with the matter or involved in the discussions were cited.
The zero-tolerance approach has faced increasing challenges from highly transmissible new variants, and its heavy economic and social costs have drawn mounting public backlash.
The easing of the measures will see the scrapping of the “circuitbreaker” mechanism in place to stop China-bound flights if a certain amount of passengers tested positive for Covid upon landing.
Currently, arriving passengers must quarantine for five days at a hotel, followed by three days at home. That is down from as much as three weeks in the past.
China’s zero-Covid-19 pandemic unleashed by a frustrated freelancer in Shanghai: Post-traumatic stress disorder and public disbelief
Markets responded positively to the changes as Covid-19 restrictions have kept international investors jittery. At noon local time, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up more than seven percent while the mainland China index was up 2.5%.
Under the new guidelines, people who are identified as close contacts of Covid-19 cases will also have shortened quarantine at centralized government-operated facilities, down from seven days plus another three days at home, to five days and three days at home.
The objective of the guidelines is zero carbon dioxide, which doesn’t have a reason if the requirements for international traveller are still in place.
The government reported 10,535 new domestically transmitted cases on Thursday, the highest in months, and the authorities girded for the situation to worsen.
The National Health Commission warned that the epidemic “is likely to further expand in scope and scale” due to mutations and weather factors in the winter and spring.
Workers across China have dismantled some of the physical signs of the country’s zero-Covid controls, peeling health code scanning signs off metro station walls and closing some checkpoints after the government unveiled an overhaul of its pandemic policy.
But as many residents expressed relief and happiness at the obvious loosening of measures, some worried about its impact and questioned how the new rules would be rolled out.
One of the managers at the company in Beijing said that the world changed overnight. We are getting back to normal, I feel like. This is important to me because if I don’t get back to a normal life, I might lose my mind.”
How can it change so quickly? Ding asked. It gives me the feeling that we’re fools. It’s all up to them. They said it’s good, so then it’s good … that’s what I feel right now. It is so unreal, but I have no choice. All I can do is follow the arrangement.”
David Wang, a freelancer in Shanghai, said the changes were welcomed, but they had also inspired a sense of disbelief in the city, which underwent a chaotic, more than two month long, citywide lock-up earlier this year.
He said that he was happy about the new changes but that a lot of his friends are showing evidence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
What to Do if You’re Infected by Omicron in China: A Review of Beijing’s Public Media and Covid-19 Policy
Top health officials in Beijing on Wednesday said the changes to the rules were based on scientific evidence, including the spread of the comparatively milder Omicron variant, the vaccination rate, and China’s level of experience in responding to the virus.
In the wake of a wave of unprecendented protests across the country, the government is changing it’s policy on infections. While health authorities made slight policy revisions and cautioned officials against overreach last month, the central government had shown no signs of preparing for an imminent shift in its national strategy.
The government and state media had long emphasized the dangers of the virus and its potential long-term effects – and used this to justify the maintenance of restrictive policies.
Some people feel like they have been whiplashed because of articles that highlight the more mild nature of Omicron and are well short of the public messaging campaigns that other countries carried out before their own policies changed.
Many people were unprepared for the possibility of a surge in cases in a country where most of the population has not been exposed to the virus.
On China’s heavily moderated social media platform Weibo, topics and hashtags related to what to do if infected by Omicron trended high on Thursday morning, while there were numerous reports of panic buying of fever medications.
When it came to medicine, people were not told what kind of medicine they should have and how to treat an infectious person. In fact, we should have started doing this a long, long time ago,” said Sam Wang, 26, a lawyer in Beijing, who added that the policy release felt “sudden and arbitrary.”
Others were worried about living with the virus. I want to keep myself safe, I could be fine after my first one, but if I get another one I have no idea what harm it will do to my body.
People who live in more cosmopolitan areas of China are more likely to support reopening the country due to fears about the impact of Covid-19.
Reforming the country’s transition to a zero-COVID-free health code and the social and economic harms of lockdowns
Wang said his mother was buying high-grade N95 masks and was ready for a nuclear winter when a wave of cases passed.
Many are watching to see how the guidelines are implemented as local authorities adjust – but there has been some contradiction in how the guidelines are implemented.
In Beijing, authorities on Wednesday said a health code showing a negative Covid-19 test would still be required for dining in at restaurants or entering some entertainment venues – in conflict with the national guidelines.
She claimed on Wednesday that her health code had turned yellow and she had to wait for a test that would return a negative result to enter most public places. She stayed at home because she knew she could mostly go out freely with the new rules.
The latest national guidelines state that mass testing across entire cities is no longer required. They also take a more measured approach to lockdowns: instead of shutting down cities, the government says movement restrictions should apply to high-risk communities, buildings and households. It is now possible for people to travel between regions without having to show evidence of a negative test, except in high-risk settings. The guidelines try to boost the low rates of vaccination among older people.
The changes move China “in the right direction”, says Adam Chen, a public-health researcher at the University of Georgia in Athens. They try to balance the need to protect the most vulnerable people from infection, while also reducing the economic and social harms of lockdowns, he says.
But the government hasn’t stated the goal of its new policy, which could create confusion, says Huang. This will lead to a chaotic and hasty transition process as local governments ditch all zero-COVID measures without investing seriously in preparing for the changeover, says Huang, who would have liked to have seen the reopening happen in phases.
Some parts of the new rules are open to interpretation by local governments and can be used to manage high-risk areas.
In China, it will be hard to limit transmission in densely populated high-rise buildings. George Liu says that people should not be allowed to be at home when they are sick. This could overwhelm hospitals.
The timing of the reopening is not ideal, say researchers. Hospitals will see a rise in patients during the flu season because it is the peak season. The number of people travelling during the lunar New Year and spring festival will further increase the spread of viral disease, says the economist who studies China’s public-health system.
China doesn’t have a strong system for primary medical care system, such as a network of general practitioners, so people go to hospital for mild conditions, says Xi Chen, who hopes more details on how the government plans to triage care will emerge in the coming days.
Without additional support, the eased restrictions might not help businesses to recover from protracted lockdowns or remove the social stigma attached to COVID-19, says Joy Zhang, a sociologist at the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK. I fear that the risk of health will be passed on to individuals.
Cowling believes that guidance is needed on how to curb transmission during a surge, including mask mandates and work from home policies. And given the reduction in testing, it is not clear how officials will track whether cities are approaching, or have passed, the peak of an infection wave, he says.
Making hasty changes will not give the time to increase vaccination among older people. Some 70% of people aged 60 or older and 40% of people 80 or more have received a third dose of the vaccine.
The guidelines propose training medical staff how to deal with safety concerns and setting up mobile clinics. But they stop short of issuing vaccine mandates or introducing strong incentives for local governments to increase their vaccination rates, says Huang. Whether the inevitable rise in infections will lead to a spike in deaths remains to be seen. He says that the full impact is still to be unfolded.
Travel tracing and COVID-19: a response to protests in Beijing, China, and the announcement of a new surge in health care facilities
The China will end a requirement for travel tracing, as part of an uncertain exit from its “zero-COVID” policies.
At midnight on Monday, the smart phone app will cease to function, meaning residents’ travels will not be traced and recorded, potentially reducing the likelihood they will be forced into quarantine for visiting pandemic hot spots. There are no independent parties allowed to conduct verification in China and such apps have been used before to suppress travel and free speech. It’s part of a package of apps that includes the health code, which has yet to be disabled.
There were protests in Beijing and many other places last month, growing calls for the Communist Party to step down, a level of public dissent unseen in decades. The party responded with a massive show of force and an unknown number of people were arrested at the protests or in the days following.
While met with relief, the relaxation has also sparked concerns about a new wave of infections potentially overwhelming health care resources in some areas.
Facing a surge in COVID-19 cases, China is setting up more intensive care facilities and trying to strengthen hospitals’ ability to deal with severe cases.
At the same time the government reversed their position and allowed those with mild symptoms to recuperate at home rather than in field hospitals that have become notorious for overcrowding and poor hygiene.
Reports on the Chinese internet said that restrictions would be dropped and travel, indoor dining and other economic activities would soon return to pre-pandemic conditions.
China’s COVID-19 death toll is not counted in the official toll, but it does limit other countries’ attempts
China only counts deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official COVID-19 toll, a health official said last week. It excludes deaths that other countries would attribute to COVID-19.
Protests erupted Nov. 25 after 10 people died in a fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi. Many believed COVID-19 restrictions may have impeded rescue efforts. Authorities denied the claims spread online, but demonstrators gave voice to longstanding frustration in cities such as Shanghai that have endured severe lockdowns.
The economy contracted in the three months ending in June by 2.2% and the government promised to cut costs and disruption. Forecasters say the economy probably is shrinking in the current quarter. In a sign of poor demand, imports fell from a year ago in November.
There is still a chance the ruling party will change course if a large-scale outbreak ensues.
Last week’s announcement allowed considerable room for local governments to assign their own regulations. Rules for restaurants in Beijing and government offices are more strict than in restaurants, even though they still require a negative test result.
Loss of a close contact as a consequence of testing Covid-19 in Guangzhou, China: the moment of pure disbelief
The Editor-in-Chief of the China lifestyle magazine is, of course,Lars Hamer. He has lived in Guangzhou, China since 2018. The views he expresses are of his own. He has an account on social media called ‘Lars Hammer 1’. You can read more opinions on CNN.
Every resident dreads the knock. A loud banging at the door of my apartment in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou occurred early Tuesday morning. Fear washed over me as I learned that health care workers were ordering everyone to leave the house because a neighbor had tested positive for Covid-19.
There was a reason to worry. A friend of mine who is a teacher and his group of coworkers were sent to centralized quarks one month ago after a student at his school tested positive for Covid-19. I feared the same was about to happen to me.
I didn’t expect anything of the sort. I took a Covid-19 test and underwhelmingly, that was it. Before I got my result, I didn’t have to stay at my house and went about my day without restriction.
If this had happened weeks ago, I would have been labeled as a close contact and thus powerless to escape from the facility that held a vice-like grip.
I came to Guangzhou in the summer of last year and it was almost back to what it was before. The streets were lined with people. Friends and families who had not seen each other for months gathered in bars and restaurants, and QR codes were being ripped down from walls; our movements no longer tracked.
Friends and family who had not seen each other for months gathered at bars and restaurants, but didn’t keep track of how they were doing.
I spent most days working until late at night because it was the only thing to do; non-essential businesses had closed, and millions of people were confined to their homes. I too began to feel the strain and started considering leaving the country.
It was a moment of pure disbelief. Guangzhou had almost 8,000 cases that day, numbers similar to those that triggered a city-wide lockdown in Shanghai in April.
The COvid-19 lockdown in Beijing during January Lunar New Year’s University Travel Experiment: An update from the southern city of Beijing
BEIJING — Some Chinese universities say they will allow students to finish the semester from home in hopes of reducing the potential of a bigger COVID-19 outbreak during the January Lunar New Year travel rush.
It wasn’t clear how many schools were taking part, but universities in Shanghai and nearby cities said students would be given the option of either returning home early or staying on campus and undergoing testing every 48 hours. The Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 22 this year, is traditionally China’s busiest travel season.
Over the past three years, universities have been the scene of many lock downs, often leading to confrontations between authorities and students confined to campus or dorm rooms.
The seriousness of COvid-19 has been lowered and a requirement for people with the disease to be isolated has been dropped. Controls were expected to stay in place at least through 2023, but that was revised to include steps to dismantle them.
Beijing’s streets have grown eerily quiet, with lines forming outside fever clinics, and at pharmacies where cold and flu medications are harder to find.
The government of the southern city decided Tuesday to allow arriving travelers to eat in restaurants and go to bars for the first three days. It would stop using its contact-tracing app and keep vaccine requirements in place, but not for restaurants. The new measures take effect on Wednesday.
The easing of control measures on the mainland means a sharp drop in obligatory testing from which daily infections numbers are compiled, but cases appear to be rising rapidly, with many testing themselves at home and staying away from hospitals.
China’s government-supplied figures have not been independently verified and questions have been raised about whether the ruling Communist Party has sought to minimize numbers of cases and deaths.
China’s National Health Commission scaled down its COVID-19 report in response to “increased number of asymptomatic infectants”
Since Tuesday, the U.S. consulates in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang and the central city of Wuhan have been offering only emergency services “in response to increased number of COVID-19 cases,” the State Department said.
“Mission China makes every effort to ensure full Consular services are accessible to the U.S. citizens living in the People’s Republic of China,” the e-mailed message said.
BEIJING (AP) — China’s National Health Commission scaled down its daily COVID-19 report starting Wednesday in response to a sharp decline in PCR testing since the government eased anti-virus measures after daily cases hit record highs.
A notice on the commission’s website said it stopped publishing daily figures on numbers of COVID-19 cases where no symptoms are detected since it was “impossible to accurately grasp the actual number of asymptomatic infected persons,” which have generally accounted for the vast majority of new infections. The only numbers they’re reporting are confirmed cases detected in public testing facilities.
The two centers that were set up to administer the shots were empty except for medical personnel. There was no evidence of a big increase in patient numbers.
People waiting for test results at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital’sfever clinic in Beijing. Nurses wearing protective gear are checking in patients one patient at a time.
A few kilometers to the south, there are about a dozen people waiting in a line of blue tents. A person in the line took out a bottle of Disinfectant and sprayed it around a woman who was waiting.
A group of people waiting in line at a pharmacy waiting to purchase cough medication and Chinese remedies. The sign stated that they were doing all they could to stock up on medicine. A man coming out purchased two packages of the Chinese herbal remedy, saying that each customer had to buy a maximum of two packages.
Hospitals and distribution points were not able to keep up with demand because of a lack of motorized tricycle delivery drivers.
The United Nations General Relatively Comprehensive Study of the 2021 Pandemic and Other Implications for Chinese Nationals and Foreigners in the United States
Most Chinese are not allowed to travel abroad, diplomatic exchanges are limited and foreigners are harder to find in China.
China’s health commission said that steps would be taken to make it easier for some foreigners to enter the country, though it didn’t include tourists. It was shown that Chinese would be permitted to travel abroad for tourism again in the future, an important source of revenue for hotels and related businesses in many countries.
The move followed rare public protests against the restrictions, which have slowed the economy, putting people out of work and driving restaurants and shops out of business.
In late 2021, the omicron variant arrived and made the strategy unsustainable, requiring constant lockdowns that constrained growth and disrupted lives.
For many Chinese nationals abroad, who have been unable to return or unwilling to endure the lengthy quarantine, the news meant they could finally go home — a bittersweet victory after much sacrifice.
The border remains largely closed for foreigners, apart from a limited number of visits or business, though the government said Monday this could change.
One Chinese national living in New York has lived in New York for four years and said that he could finally live his normal life. She said the separation was very painful and she had to leave her family and her pet dog behind.
My family missed my graduation. They missed a lot of things. “And I also missed so many things for my family. My friends got married during the Pandemic. Some had babies. I missed some of the most important points in their lives, and that’s what I feel like.
May Ma has not been able to go home for three years. The worst thing about the quarantine requirements had been worrying about her grandparents’ health, and not knowing if she’d be able to return in time to say goodbye if anything were to happen, she said.
Throughout the pandemic, “the scariest thing was … not knowing where the end is, not knowing when I can go back,” she said. I can finally see the end, I feel happy.
Chinese travel booking website Trip.com has seen exponential growth in outbound searches during the Lunar New Year holiday season since the Chinese Airlines Airliner announced last year
Those within China are also celebrating and anticipating outbound travel. Most people have been in the country for several years and are now looking to take long-awaited vacations.
Online searches for outbound flights and overseas hotels jumped to a three-year peak on Trip.com, a Chinese travel booking website, according to company data. Searches for popular destinations increased tenfold within half an hour of the announcement, with many people searching for outbound group tours during the Lunar New Year holiday season in late January, data shows.
The website’s top 10 destinations have seen the fastest growth in search volume since the announcement.
A Chinese national in New York said that he feels like it’s a mess. Everybody is sick. So, at least I think right now, it’s not the best time to visit my family. Maybe two or three months later.”
Some overseas destinations are also on guard. Milan’s Malpensa airport is being asked to conduct tests for all arrivals from China during the month of January.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/china-border-quarantine-travel-reax-intl-hnk/index.html
Implications of the Communist Party’s decision to remove COVID-19 from the list of diseases that warrant quarantined for travelers from China
Ma said that he didn’t care if he could get back in time for Spring Festival. “There is hope after all, I can bear waiting for a little while longer.”
Visitors who test positive will be quarantined for one week, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced. He said Japan also would reduce a planned increase in the number of flights between Japan and China “just to be safe.”
The ruling Communist Party’s abrupt decision to lift some of the world’s strictest anti-virus controls comes as it tries reverse an economic downturn. Hospitals have been filled with sick patients as the swine flu spreads, even though curbs that confined millions of people to their homes have ended.
The British Chamber of Commerce was hoping that China would restart the normal processing of business visas. It said that will “contribute to restoring optimism and reinstating China as a priority investment destination.”
The considerations come as Japan and India have announced Covid-19 measures for travelers from China amid concerns over an uptick in cases. Individuals from China who are going to Japan must be tested for Covid-19 upon arrival. Travelers from China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand will have to present proof of a negative Covid-19 test on their arrival in India if they test positive, according to Indian authorities.
Starting last month, however, the ruling party has gradually joined the United States and other governments that are trying to live with the virus by treating infections instead of imposing blanket quarantines on cities or neighborhoods.
The ruling party said they were trying to reduce disruptions because of the economic downturn. Changes were announced after protests broke out in a number of cities.
The government “should have done the job in a more meticulous way,” said Lu Haoming, a Beijing architect. “Although the death rate of this disease is not as serious as at the beginning, the first shock has still been quite severe.”
The National Health Commission announced a campaign Nov. 29 to raise the vaccination rate among older Chinese. Health experts say that is crucial to avoiding a health care crisis.
On Monday, the government changed COVID-19 to a Class B disease from a Class A infectious disease, and removed it from the list of illnesses that warrant a quarantining in order to protect the public. Authorities would no longer keep a record of close contacts, and areas that could be high or low risk of infections.
The Covid-19 epidemic in China: a response from the foreign ministry to the US and the plan to resume issuing visas and passports
China’s foreign ministry responded Wednesday to reports that the US is considering imposing restrictions on travelers from China, urging parties to work together to ensure the safe movement of people between countries and the stability of the global supply chain.
The officials said there are mounting concerns in the international community about the ongoing Covid-19 surge in China and the lack of transparent data. “Without this data, it is becoming increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure that they will be able to identify any potential new variants and take prompt measures to reduce the spread.”
“The US is following the science and advice of public health experts, consulting with partners, and considering taking similar steps we can take to protect the American people,” the officials said.
“We need all parties to work together scientifically against the epidemic to ensure the safe movement of people between countries, maintain the stability of the global industrial chain supply chain and promote the resumption of healthy growth in the world economy,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a briefing.
China will resume issuing visas and passports in a big way, removing all of the anti-viruses controls that kept people out of the country for almost three years, setting up a potential huge flood of people going abroad for the New Year.
The National Immigration Administration of China said it will start taking applications Jan. 8 for passports for tourists to go abroad. It said that it will resume issuing approvals for people to visit Hong Kong, a Chinese territory with its own border controls.
The agency said it will take applications for ordinary visas and residence permits. It said the government will “gradually resume” allowing in foreign visitors and gave no indication when full-scale tourist travel from abroad might be allowed.
Chinese Embassy in Beijing during the 2022 Pandemic: The Unexpected Impact of the COVID-19 Reopening on Hong Kong & mainland China
China was the biggest source of foreign tourists for most of its Asian neighbors, and it is also an important market for Europe and the United States.
The American Chamber of Commerce in China says more than 70% of companies that responded to a poll this month expect the impact of the latest wave of outbreaks to last no more than three months, ending in early 2023.
Those crossing between Hong Kong and mainland China, however, are still required to show a negative COVID-19 test taken within the last 48 hours — a measure China has protested when imposed by other countries.
The land and sea border checkpoints with the mainland were largely shut down for almost three years after Hong Kong was hit by the virus. Hong Kong’s tourism and retail sectors are likely to get a boost due to the reopening that will allow tens of thousands of people who have booked their travel online to cross each day.
Even though the country is experiencing a massive outbreak of cases, ChinaEASED restrictions so residents could celebrate New Year’s in large-scale gatherings that were not allowed for most of the Pandemic.
An employee of a logistic company in Beijing said there were still some worries, more or less. “I hope that next year everything will be normal, such as domestic travel.”
“We have experienced a very uneven year, particularly unforgettable, with many things out of our imagination,” said Li Feng, a teacher in Beijing, adding that 2022 was a difficult year for both the people and the government.
After having been separated from his wife in mainland China for many years, Cheung Seng-bun made sure to be first in line after the reopening of border crossing points.
“I’m hurrying to get back to her,” Cheung, lugging a heavy suitcase, said as he prepared to cross at Lok Ma Chau station, which was steadily filling with eager travelers.
On a visit to the station Sunday morning, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee said the sides would continue to expand the number of crossing points from the current seven to the full 14.
China has reopened its borders to tourists after three years of covid closure: The first international flight from Beijing was scheduled for 6:30 a.m. Sunday
“The goal is to get back as quickly as possible to the pre-epidemic normal life,” Lee told reporters. “We want to get cooperation between the two sides back on track.”
The Global Times quoted Tan Luming, the port official in Shenzhen, who said that about 200 passengers would take the ferry to Hong Kong on the first day of the reopening and another 700 would go in the other direction. Tan said a steady increase in passenger numbers is expected over coming days.
The woman identified as Cheung said on arrival at Shenzhen she was looking forward to seeing her mother in the mainland.
It was just in time for the opening of the ice festival in the capital of Heilongjiang that the Suifenhe border crossing with Russia resumed normal operations.
Normal operations were resumed after a period of 1,012 days of partial or full close down in response to the recurring outbreak blamed on visitors from China’s neighbor.
Beijing’s main Capital International Airport was expecting eight flights from overseas on Sunday. Shanghai, China’s largest city, received its first international flight under the new policy at 6:30 a.m. with only a trickle of others to follow.
“I’ve been under isolated quarantine for six times in different cities (in mainland China),” said Ivan Tang, a Hong Kong business traveler. “They are not easy to experience.”
Ming Guanghe, a Chinese living in Singapore, said it had been difficult both to book a ticket and find somewhere to take a PCR test. Quarantine measures and uncertainty about outbreaks had kept him away from home, Ming said.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/08/1147734190/china-has-reopened-its-borders-to-tourists-after-three-years-of-covid-closure
China’s “has-reopened-its-borders to tourists after three-years-of-covid-closure” rule extended to the next-generation pandemic
Domestic rail and air journeys are expected to double over last year’s period, bringing the whole amount to close to the holiday season before the Pandemic hit.
Spot checks on arrival are allowed under the German regulation. Wastewater from aircrafts will be tested to see if they have any new viruses. The measures will be in effect until April 7.
The National Health Commission reported 7,072 new confirmed cases of local transmission and two deaths on Sunday, while individual provinces reported as many as 1 million cases per day.
Government spokespeople insist the situation is under control and reject accusations from the World Health Organization and others that they’re not being transparent about the outbreak that could lead to the emergence of new variants.
Testing of urban wastewater is included in the regulations roll out by the Health Commission on Saturday. The rules called for increased data gathering from hospitals and local government health departments and stepped-up checks on “pneumonia of unknown causes.”
There has been a focus on heavy-handed enforcement of regulations like open-ended travel restrictions that resulted in people being confined to their homes for weeks with no food or medical care.
Anger was raised when it was required that anyone who had been in contact with a person who potentially tested positive, be confined for observation in a field hospital, due to the overcrowding and poor food and hygiene.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/08/1147734190/china-has-reopened-its-borders-to-tourists-after-three-years-of-covid-closure
Social and economic costs of street protests in Beijing and other cities (after Beijing, March 21 & March 21): a brief review
In Beijing and other cities, there were rare street protests due to the social and economic costs.