Crowd angered by lockdowns calls for China’s Xi to step down

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SHANGHAI (AP) — Protesters angered by strict anti-virus measures called for China’s powerful leader to resign, an unprecedented rebuke as authorities in at least eight cities struggled to suppress demonstrations Sunday that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party.

https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-health-fires-social-media-50d7515e5fae00f5054062209e9306cc?

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Beijing on edge as city adds new quarantine centers

BEIJING (AP) — Residents of some parts of China’s capital were emptying supermarket shelves and overwhelming delivery apps Friday as the city government ordered faster construction of COVID-19 quarantine centers and field hospitals.

https://apnews.com/article/health-business-china-beijing-covid-c8acd55c1a7522cbd3983036ab27a487

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China virus protests hit Hong Kong after mainland rallies

HONG KONG (AP) — Students in Hong Kong chanted “oppose dictatorship” in a protest of China’s COVID-19 rules Monday after demonstrators on the mainland issued an unprecedented call for President Xi Jinping to resign in the biggest show of opposition to the ruling Communist Party in decades.

https://apnews.com/article/health-china-beijing-xi-jinping-shanghai-8d0cbd9eb026f46b24316c573df2e3a2?

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China sends students home, police patrol to curb protests

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese universities sent students home and police fanned out in Beijing and Shanghai to prevent more protests Tuesday after crowds angered by severe anti-virus restrictions called for leader Xi Jinping to resign in the biggest show of public dissent in decades.

https://apnews.com/article/health-beijing-xi-jinping-shanghai-covid-5e6340710ba8b273b3be88d8844feed0?

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China vows crackdown on ‘hostile forces’ as public tests Xi

BEIJING (AP) — China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to “resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces,” following the largest street demonstrations in decades by citizens fed up with strict anti-virus restrictions. A massive show of force by the security services Wednesday sought to deter further protests.

https://apnews.com/article/health-china-beijing-shanghai-covid-9a702c3794b5beaa13608484b8397e6d?

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China eases virus controls amid effort to head off protests

BEIJING (AP) — More Chinese cities eased anti-virus restrictions and police patrolled their streets Thursday as the government tried to defuse public anger over some of the world’s most stringent COVID measures and head off more protests.

https://apnews.com/article/health-china-social-media-business-0541b707cbac22cf3b3d4b545ff34ff5

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China security forces are well-prepared for quashing dissent

BEIJING (AP) — When it comes to ensuring the security of their regime, China’s Communist Party rulers don’t skimp.

https://apnews.com/article/health-china-beijing-covid-government-and-politics-55ae2d4f939e82b206f3661d9209f2e6?

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At Shanghai vigil, bold shout for change preceded crackdown

SHANGHAI (AP) — The mourners in Shanghai lit candles and placed flowers. Someone scrawled “Urumqi, 11.24, Rest in Peace” in red on cardboard — referring to the deadly apartment fire in China’s western city of Urumqi that sparked anger over perceptions the country’s strict COVID-19 measures played a role in the disaster.

https://apnews.com/article/health-china-xi-jinping-shanghai-covid-b85c65c576b9326c012a19422ae2dc82?

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China eases anti-COVID measures following protests

BEIJING (AP) — China rolled back rules on isolating people with COVID-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places Wednesday in a dramatic change to a strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign.

https://apnews.com/article/health-business-china-covid-economy-e5559f6062cf052a71ad6ba1ceece693?

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Under China’s ‘zero COVID,’ uncertainty reigns and unsettles

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — As coronavirus cases rose in Shanghai earlier this year and the city’s lockdown stretched from weeks to months, Leah Zhang’s feeling of suffocation grew.

https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-science-health-covid-e35e8d5d6bd6164a409f10d8e4509a51

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China’s looser anti-COVID measures met with relief, caution

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — People across China reacted with relief and caution Thursday to the dramatic government decision to loosen some of the world’s most severe COVID-19 restrictions.

https://apnews.com/article/health-business-china-covid-government-and-politics-5522633655bbd2c3f7f5d6386632f130?

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Facing COVID surge, China expanding hospitals, ICUs

BEIJING (AP) — Facing a surge in COVID-19 cases, China is setting up more intensive care facilities and trying to strengthen hospitals as it rolls back anti-virus controls that confined millions of people to their homes, crushed economic growth and set off protests.

https://apnews.com/article/health-china-beijing-xi-jinping-covid-0e61e07163eb31f34165dc0f209e89c5?

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China vows to drop some travel tracking in COVID rule easing

BEIJING (AP) — China said it would stop tracking some travel, potentially reducing the likelihood people will be forced into quarantine for visiting COVID-19 hot spots, as part of an uncertain exit from the strict pandemic policies that helped fuel widespread protests.

https://apnews.com/article/politics-health-beijing-covid-china-government-24bc79b4885e1f0b4222a9938d39ff23?

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China students return home amid fears of COVID-19 spread

BEIJING (AP) — Some Chinese universities say they will allow students to finish the semester from home in hopes of reducing the potential for a bigger COVID-19 outbreak during the January Lunar New Year travel rush.

https://apnews.com/article/politics-health-education-covid-china-government-62ba569fcee449491442cef1f8f93c00?

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China won’t report asymptomatic COVID cases in further shift

BEIJING (AP) — China said Wednesday that it would stop reporting asymptomatic COVID-19 cases since they’ve become impossible to track with mass testing no longer required, another step in the country’s departure from some of the world’s strictest antivirus policies.

https://apnews.com/article/health-business-china-beijing-covid-9e0fc4ddc2537cb04535b334223dd442?

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A week into China’s easing, uncertainty over virus direction

BEIJING (AP) — A week after China dramatically eased some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 containment measures, uncertainty remained Thursday over the direction of the pandemic in the world’s most populous nation.

https://apnews.com/article/politics-health-covid-medication-government-and-5cb52cff65237e79a52b15cb2fdb0f7b?

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China reports first Covid deaths in weeks as virus surges through Beijing

China reported its first Covid-related deaths in weeks on Monday amid rising doubts over whether the official count was capturing the full toll of a disease that is ripping through cities after the government relaxed strict anti-virus controls.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-reports-first-covid-deaths-weeks-virus-surges-beijing-rcna62336?

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Foreign firms: China ‘turns corner’ by ending quarantine

BEIJING (AP) — Foreign companies welcomed China’s decision to end quarantines for travelers from abroad as an important step to revive slumping business activity while Japan on Tuesday joined India in announcing restrictions on visitors from the country as infections surge.

https://apnews.com/article/floods-health-business-beijing-covid-f0253b7a9a888a56835cb9bb09364b2d?