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China eases off some virus restrictions as protests mount

China is easing some of its coronavirus restrictions in the face of astonishing protests against President Xi Jinping, but the communist government showed no signs of abandoning its zero-COVID policy and so-called nuisance accounts tried to bury news about the protests online.

Officials in the southern city of Guangzhou said some residents would not have to submit to mass testing, according to wire reports, while city officials in Beijing said they would no longer use gates to block off apartment complexes with known infections.

“Passages must remain clear for medical transportation, emergency escapes and rescues,” Wang Daguang, a city official who handles COVID-19 control, said in the China News Service.