In his first comments since China began to turn away from its stringent “zero-Covid” policy, Chinese President Xi Jinping implored the nation to embrace unity and exert more effort as it enters a “new phase” in its battle with fresh outbreaks of the virus.

As China has tried to relax the rigid zero-Covid policies which had been preventing it from reopening, the nation is facing sweeping outbreaks of the virus across the nation. As the outbreaks are impacting domestic economic activity, they are also triggering global concern, with Britain and France the latest countries to impose strict curbs on travelers entering their countries from China.

China shifted away from its zero-Covid policy as unprecedented violent protests began cropping up, driven by citizens who had grown tired of repeatedly being locked down every time there were a handful of positive cases detected in otherwise healthy populations. The government had also been growing frustrated as the nation’s $17 trillion economy was continuing to post grim growth numbers.

In his speech marking the New Year, Xi said China was facing unprecedented difficulties and challenges now, as the virus was resurgent, however the government would optimize its policies when it became required.

Xi said, “Since the outbreak of the epidemic … the majority of cadres and masses, especially medical personnel, grassroots workers braved hardships and courageously persevered. At present, the epidemic prevention and control is entering a new phase, it is still a time of struggle, everyone is persevering and working hard, and the dawn is ahead. Let’s work harder, persistence means victory, and unity means victory.”

Residents of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, were reflecting online about the paths of their lives these past three years, as they looked to what the future would hold.

Chen Mei, 45, a resident of Wuhan, hoped her daughter could finally begin to experience some normalcy now, and be able to go to school.

She noted, “When she can’t go to the school and can only have classes online it’s definitely not an effective way of learning.”

Across the country, thousands of people flocked to social media to discuss the virus, only to end up confronting government censorship seeking to control the dialog in the nation about the virus.

Thousands of citizens on the Chinese platform Weibo, which is similar to Twitter, complained that the platform removed a video made by Netease News, a local outlet, that collated stories of people’s lives from 2022. One hashtag related to the video acquired 4 million hits before it disappeared from platforms.

One user wrote, “What a perverse world, you can only sing the praises of the fake but you cannot show real life,” with a picture of the blank page users received when searching for the hashtag.

Meanwhile the virus continues to run roughshod across the nation as it tries to reopen. Airfinity, a UK-based health data firm said Thursday that it estimated about 9,000 people were likely dying each day from the virus, as cumulative deaths since December 1st have likely reached 100,000 and total infections have likely reached 18.6 million.

Zhang Wenhong, director of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with the People’s Daily Saturday that Shanghai had peaked in its number of infections on December 22nd, and that there were currently roughly 10 million cases.

He went on to say they expected about 50,000 people in the city would need to be hospitalized in the next few weeks.

At the central hospital of Wuhan, cases were said to be declining, with one worker saying, “This wave is almost over.” A pharmacist reiterated the claim, adding, “It is mainly old people who are getting sick with it now.”

However the elimination of China’s zero-Covid policy had not come without economic costs. Data released Saturday showed factory activity was down for the third straight month in December, having fallen at the fastest pace in almost three years.

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