BEIJING: Businesses reopened and testing requirements were relaxed in Beijing and other Chinese cities on Monday as the country tentatively eases out of a strict zero COVID-19 policy that sparked nationwide protests.
\nLocal authorities across China have begun a slow rollback of the restrictions that have governed daily life for years, encouraged by the central government\u2019s orders for a new approach to fighting the coronavirus.
\nIn the capital Beijing, where many businesses have fully reopened, commuters from Monday were no longer required to show a negative virus test taken within 48 hours to use public transport.
\nFinancial hub Shanghai \u2014 which underwent a brutal two-month lockdown this year \u2014 was under the same rules, with residents able to enter outdoor venues such as parks and tourist attractions without a recent test.
\nNeighboring Hangzhou went a step further, ending regular mass testing for its 10 million people, except for those living in or visiting nursing homes, schools and kindergartens.
\nIn the northwestern city of Urumqi, where a fire that killed 10 people became the catalyst for the recent anti-lockdown protests, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and ski resorts reopened on Monday.
\nThe city of more than four million in the far-western Xinjiang region endured one of China\u2019s longest lockdowns, with some areas shut from August until November.
\nAuthorities in Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, and Shandong scrapped the testing requirement for public transport on Sunday.
\nAnd Zhengzhou \u2014 home to the world\u2019s largest iPhone factory \u2014 on Sunday said people will be allowed to enter public places, take public transport and enter their residential compounds without a 48-hour negative test result.
\nThe World Health Organization has cheered China\u2019s loosening of its zero COVID-19 policy, which came after hundreds took to the streets across the country to call for greater political freedoms and an end to lockdowns.
\nWhile some COVID-19 rules have been relaxed, China\u2019s vast security apparatus has moved swiftly to smother further rallies, boosting online censorship and surveillance of the population.
\nAnd as officials have dismantled testing facilities, long queues have appeared around those that remain, forcing residents to wait in cold temperatures to get tests that remain obligatory across much of China.
\n\u201cStudents can\u2019t go to school without a 24-hour negative test,\u201d wrote a user on China\u2019s Twitter-like Weibo.
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the point in closing testing booths before dropping the need to show test results completely?\u201d another asked.
\nChinese authorities on Monday reported 29,724 new domestic COVID-19 cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING: Businesses reopened and testing requirements were relaxed in Beijing and other Chinese cities on Monday as the country tentatively eases out of a strict zero COVID-19 policy that sparked nationwide protests. Local authorities across China have begun a slow rollback of the restrictions that have governed daily life for years, encouraged by the central […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18,11724,191,11723,327,11725],"class_list":{"0":"post-299356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-chinese-cities","10":"tag-covid-19","11":"tag-eases","12":"tag-policy","13":"tag-testing-rules"},"yoast_head":"\n