China's patchy COVID rule easing sows confusion

STORY: A partial easing of the world's toughest COVID-19 curbs seems to have sowed confusion across China on Monday.

In the capital Beijing, residents expressed mixed feelings about the changes.

This man was pleased COVID tests are no longer required for public transport, and hoped it’s the first step towards reopening after the pandemic.

While some others cast doubt on the logic behind the move.

“They just change the measures when they want. For example, a mall could re-open on Saturday, but people were only notified on Friday night. It’s very strange and surprising to me, because there are more cases now, but they opened the mall. Yet dine-in still banned, but I guess it'll be allowed soon.”

Three years into the pandemic, China's zero-tolerance measures contrast sharply with the rest of the world, which has largely decided to live with the virus.

The strict approach has battered the world's second-largest economy and put mental strain on hundreds of millions.

On Sunday, dozens of students protested at a university in the central province of Wuhan, against its COVID policies.

In a video obtained by Reuters, the students could be heard demanding school officials “make the process open, make information transparent”.

It follows a series of anti-lockdown demonstrations late last month, in what was mainland China’s biggest show of public discontent since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012.

Although the protests largely petered out amid a heavy police presence across major cities,

regional authorities have cut back on lockdowns, quarantine rules and testing requirements to varying degrees.

According to Reuters’ sources, China will also soon announce a nationwide easing of testing and allow some positive cases and close contacts to isolate at home instead of a government facility.