China eases Covid rules amid unrest

CHINA has begun easing Covid restrictions in cities across the country following widespread anti-lockdown protests.

Testing requirements have been loosened in Beijing, where commuters can use public transport without a virus test for the first time in months.

In the southern city of Shenzhen, pharmacies, parks and tourist attractions are no longer demanding negative test results upon entry.

Shanghai will introduce those rules today.

But a negative Covid result is still required to enter shopping centres, which have gradually reopened.

China is still following a strict zero-Covid policy, aiming to isolate every infected person, three years after the virus first emerged there.

Anti- lockdown protests erupted in recent weeks in Shanghai and other cities, with protesters calling for Xi Jinping to step down as president.

The unrest was triggered last month by a fire in a high-rise block in the western Xinjiang region that killed ten people.