Timing is, as they say, everything. Xi Jinping had some pretty horrible timing when he elected to begin easing China’s draconian Zero COVID restrictions just as a fresh wave of COVID cases began moving across the country. Officially, of course, that is not the case, but with Beijing opting to end mass testing there are no good ways to effectively track cases. However,
Same thing happened in Australia and New Zealand when they dropped their Zero Covid policies; both had big waves. "Virus gonna virus". Zero virus policies might be rational if the virus in question had a double-digit (percentage) fatality rate, but not for one where it's a small fraction of one percent.
China Reopens To COVID Wave And Crashing Economy
Same thing happened in Australia and New Zealand when they dropped their Zero Covid policies; both had big waves. "Virus gonna virus". Zero virus policies might be rational if the virus in question had a double-digit (percentage) fatality rate, but not for one where it's a small fraction of one percent.