NUNZIUM

China is arguably the developed nation which fought against the COVID-19 pandemic with the most rigid restrictions. While most other countries have now substantially declared the end of the sanitary emergency, in China, the fight is still ongoing. Authorities put entire cities under lockdown, even with just a handful of cases. Those in quarantine report difficulties in having access to food and medicines. The situation also puts stress on many commercial activities and companies. The economic and social costs of such measures have been incredibly high. The lockdowns are the cause of growing socioeconomic pressure. Several civil protests have erupted across the country in the last few days against the draconian anti-pandemic measures. Some of these protests have turned violent with the intervention of the police. At universities and in Shanghai where hundreds chanted, "Step down, Xi Jinping! Step down, Communist Party!". Protests have also broken out in the capital city of Beijing. One student at the prestigious Peking University reported that he arrived at the protest scene at around 1 a.m. Sunday local time, there were approximately 100 students, and security guards were using jackets to cover a protest slogan painted on the wall. Hundreds of people took to the streets of Urumqi on Friday night against the containment measures, which saw many of the city's 4 million residents barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days. Chinese media showed footage of people breaking through metal fences and shouting, "End the lockdown!". China is now the only major country in the world still fighting the pandemic through mass testing and lockdowns. Authorities defend President Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent overwhelming the health care system. Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting toll on the world's second-biggest economy. The explosion of criticism marks a sharp turn in public opinion. Authorities are now designing more gradual measures, but they still claim a zero-Covid policy as the objective.