Citizens in a handful of Chinese cities took to the streets in a rare show of defiance to protest against the country’s strict Covid-19 controls following the death of 10 people in a fire at an apartment block in Xinjiang last week.

In Beijing several hundred people took to the streets in a protest that continued until after 3am on Monday. Other demonstrations took place in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu over the weekend, according to media reports and social media posts. Some protesters were reportedly detained.

The Biden administration said Monday that Chinese protesters are right to call for an end to draconian COVID-19 lockdowns — without endorsing widespread calls for Beijing’s authoritarian President Xi Jinping to resign.

Videos published over the weekend showed large protests across China in the most significant challenge to Communist Party rule in more than 30 years — with crowds in the capital Beijing and largest city Shanghai chanting that Xi should step down.

Chinese police have launched a show of force across the country in an effort to head off further protests against the government’s rigid zero-Covid policies and tackle what have become the most extraordinary acts of civil disobedience in the country for decades.

China’s worst Covid-19 outbreak is ending, with cases continuing to fall, all major cities loosening restrictions and daily life mostly returning to normal.  

Infections are trending down nationwide, thanks to the ebbing outbreaks in Shanghai and Beijing. Of China’s top 50 cities by economic size, none currently have widespread restrictions in place. Tianjin hasn’t reported any local cases for the past 3 days and most public transport has resumed ...

Until recently, China and Taiwan were among the last places on earth to pursue a “zero Covid” policy of eliminating infections. For two years, they mostly succeeded in keeping the coronavirus out with tough border controls and rigorous contact tracing.

Then came the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Immediately after Beijing said it had detected a new coronavirus outbreak, officials hurried to assure residents there was no reason to panic. Food was plentiful, they said, and any lockdown measures would be smooth. But Evelyn Zheng, a freelance writer in the city, was not taking any chances.

Elon Musk’s effort to buy Twitter has many wondering how the social platform’s approach to speech and moderation would change if he were successful. One topic that could present a conundrum is China.

Like many companies that do business in the country, Musk tends to refrain from criticizing Beijing’s policies, even though he slams similar moves by the US government. Nowhere is the difference more stark than when it comes to covid restrictions.

Desperate Shanghai residents who are under strict lockdown over a COVID-19 outbreak are protesting food shortages, chanting “we want supplies” from their apartments, video shows.

Footage posted to Twitter showed people in the locked-down city banging pots on their balconies to decry a lack of food and other items, France24 reported.

“We want supplies,” the quarantined residents reportedly chanted.

The number of people infected with a new virus in China tripled over the weekend, with the outbreak spreading from Wuhan to other major cities.

There are now more than 200 cases, mostly in Wuhan, though the respiratory illness has also been detected in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Three people have died. Japan, Thailand and South Korea have reported cases.

The sharp rise comes as millions of Chinese prepare to travel for the Lunar New Year holidays.