Doctors in Zhejiang province, which has a population of approximately 64.5 million people, register more than 1 million new cases of coronavirus infection per day, Reuters reports . This number is expected to double in the coming days.
"It is estimated that the peak of infection in Zhejiang will enter a period of elevated levels around the New Year, during which the daily number of new infections will reach up to 2 million," the provincial government said in a statement.
Volunteers are being recruited in the provincial capital of Hangzhou to help the city's emergency medical center deal with an increased number of requests from citizens. The authorities are stepping up purchases of antipyretic drugs and distributing more than 10 million units of other medicines.
At the end of November 2022, mass protests took place in a number of cities in China. The demonstrations were triggered by tight anti-COVID restrictions and a fire in the city of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Residents of some areas are practically forbidden to leave their apartments – and on December 24, 10 people died during a fire in a residential building, the residents of which were under quarantine. In social networks, they began to actively discuss that people could not leave the burning building due to restrictions. In Shanghai, protesters began to raise anti-government slogans, including "Xi Jinping, go away!" and "Communist Party, go away."
Through protests, residents were able to secure permission for some citizens to quarantine at home rather than in special camps, as well as the removal of the requirement to take a coronavirus test to enter most public places.