China Struggles With COVID Infections After Loosening of 'Zero-COVID' Restrictions

China Struggles With COVID, Infections After Loosening of , 'Zero-COVID' Restrictions.

China's "Zero COVID" policy had confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and calls for President Xi Jinping to step down.

China's "Zero COVID" policy had confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and calls for President Xi Jinping to step down.

The loosening of restrictions began on November 11 as part of a promise to reduce the cost of testing and quarantine and end economic disruption.

ABC reports that official COVID data comes after the government ended mandatory testing for many people on December 7.

On December 9, the government reported 16,797 new cases, which included 13,160 people without symptoms. That number was down about one-fifth from December 8 and less than half of last week's high above 40,000.

But large parts of the population weren't accounted for since the end of mandatory testing.

But large parts of the population weren't accounted for since the end of mandatory testing.

On social media, people were reporting coworkers and classmates that were ill and some businesses that had closed due to a lack of staff who contracted COVID.

There’s very few people coming in because there’s so many cases.

The country’s just opened up.

The first one or two months is definitely going to be serious.

Nobody’s used to this yet, Gang Xueping, waitress in a Beijing restaurant, via ABC.

ABC reports that the situation echoes similar experiences in the United States, Europe and other countries trying to restore business activity.

According to experts and economists, restrictions will most likely remain in place until at least mid-2023.