Chinese police are calling up people who have booked flights to leave the country and interrogating them about where they are going and when they plan to be back, sources in the country tell Radio Free Asia.
As a result of Beijing’s relaxed zero-COVID policies, millions of Chinese people are planning trips to see relatives as the Lunar New Year approaches. The festivities marking the occasion, which many Asian people will celebrate on Sunday
As outbreaks of COVID-19 cases across China overwhelm hospitals, the official daily death count has remained in the single digits. Chinese officials have repeatedly claimed that China is adopting one of “two main global standards for determining COVID deaths.”
A novel coronavirus infection was first reported by scientists in Wuhan, China, three years ago. 13 billion shots against COVID-19 have been developed and delivered since that time.
Hospitals across China are scrambling to source ventilators and other ICU equipment amid a mounting wave of COVID-19 infections after the government dropped widespread testing and targeted lockdowns under the zero-COVID policy, as residents of Wuhan report rampant community transmission of the virus.
Funeral homes in Beijing are operating around the clock amid a surge of COVID-19 cases, with cremations now backed up for at least five days, funeral parlor staff told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday.
The Nov. 24 fire in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi sparked public rage throughout the country, as people blamed local COVID lockdown restrictions for impeding the rescue and escape of people caught in the blaze. Chinese government officials at the local and national level denied any connection between the deaths in the fire and pandemic prevention measures.
During a spate of spontaneous protests across China last weekend following a fatal lockdown fire in Xinjiang’s regional capital Urumqi, a Twitter user with the handle “Mr. Li is not your teacher” was thrust into the international limelight as he uploaded clip after clip of demonstrations and candlelight vigils around the country
Hana Young, Deputy Regional Director for Amnesty International, responded to widespread protests that were unprecedented in recent years by saying the tragedy of the Urumqi fire has inspired remarkable bravery across China
Chinese authorities have relaxed severe COVID-19 lockdowns in parts of the far-western Tibet region, allowing Tibetans residing temporarily in the regional capital Lhasa for work or other reasons to return to their hometowns beginning Monday