China softens COVID stance after protests, clashes with police

China is softening its tone on the severity of COVID-19 and easing some coronavirus restrictions after anger over the world’s toughest pandemic curbs triggered protests in several cities across the country, some of which led to clashes with police.

With daily cases remaining near record levels even after prolonged lockdowns, Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who oversees the country’s coronavirus response, said on Wednesday that the virus’s ability to cause disease was weakening.

“The country is facing a new situation and new tasks in epidemic prevention and control as the pathogenicity of the Omicron virus weakens, more people are vaccinated and experience in containing the virus is accumulated,” state media reported Sun as saying.

Sun also urged further “optimisation” of testing, treatment and quarantine policies.

The mention of a weakening pathogenicity contrasts with earlier messages from authorities about the deadliness of the virus and the need to eradicate it.

Several cities continued to ease district lockdowns and allow businesses to reopen, although they have not directly referenced the protests that gathered momentum after a fire killed 10 people in the locked down Xinjiang city of Urumqi on Friday.

In the southern city of Guangzhou, officials in at least seven districts announced in statements they would lift temporary lockdowns, a day after demonstrators in the southern city clashed with police over the continued curbs on residents’ everyday lives. One district said it would allow in-person classes in schools to resume and would reopen restaurants and other businesses including cinemas.

China’s lockdowns are more severe than any imposed in Western countries – usually confining people to their homes for extended periods and requiring them to submit to regular mass testing.