Xi Jinping admits Chinese people are ‘frustrated’ and says Omicron allows loosening of lockdown

Xi Jinping has admitted that Chinese people are “frustrated” with Covid lockdowns and suggested measures could be loosened because the Omicron variant is less lethal.

In private talks with EU chief Charles Michel in Beijing, the Chinese President said the rise of Omicron could allow China to ease its zero-Covid policies, according to senior officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

China has already begun to loosen some restrictions, with cities across the country allowing businesses to reopen, ending requirements for daily PCR testing and allowing some Covid patients to quarantine at home.

Discontent with China’s hardline pandemic response spilled onto the streets last weekend, with some protesters calling for Mr Xi and his government to resign.

China’s vast security apparatus has moved swiftly to stamp out the dissent, deploying a heavy police presence while boosting online censorship and surveillance of the population.

President Xi told Mr Michel that the demonstrators were “mainly students or teenagers in university” who were fed up with the restrictions, the officials said.

The government has largely stayed quiet on the protests, which have grown into the most direct challenge to the ruling Chinese Communist Party since the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Hu Xijin, former editor of China’s Global Times tabloid, a Communist Party mouthpiece, on Friday said he was prepared to accept the risks posed by Omicron for the sake of the country’s “colourful youth”.

It was a further sign that attitudes towards controlling the virus have shifted among the Chinese political elite and came after Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said the Omicron variant was weakening and vaccination rates were improving.

A central figure behind Beijing’s pandemic response, Ms Sun on Wednesday said the “new situation” facing China required “new tasks”.

According to the European officials, Mr Michel suggested to Mr Xi that China follow the example of Europe and favour vaccination drives rather than lockdowns to control the spread of the disease.

Despite launching a campaign late last month to encourage the elderly to get vaccinated, only 40 per cent of China’s over 80s have had the full three-jab course of its locally-made vaccine.

China’s initial vaccine rollout did not prioritise the elderly, and its lagging vaccination rate is also the result of widespread vaccine hesitancy.

A number of cities have now begun loosening restrictions, slowly moving away from daily mass testing and compulsory central quarantine – a tedious mainstay of life under zero-Covid policy. But sporadic localised clashes have continued to flare up.

Videos shared widely on social media showed the parents of pupils at a school in central China on their knees, begging for their children to be let out of a Covid quarantine centre.

Other videos showed clashes between the parents and health workers wearing white protective suits.

The catalyst for the wave of protests was a deadly blaze last week in a locked-down apartment block in the western city of Urumqi.

Many across the country believe Covid restrictions prevented the rescue of the 10 victims, including a three-year-old child.

Several cities, including Shanghai and Guangzhou, relaxed lockdowns in some districts this week, allowing businesses to reopen and ending requirements for daily PCR tests.

Meanwhile, former NBA star Jeremy Lin, who plays for a Chinese team, was fined 10,000 yuan (£1,165) for criticising quarantine facilities, China’s professional league and a news report said Friday.

Lin, who plays for the Loong Lions Basketball Club, made “inappropriate remarks about quarantine hotel-related facilities” where the team stayed on Wednesday ahead of a game, the China Basketball Association announced.

The comments, it said, “caused adverse effects on the league and the competition area”.

The association gave no details of Lin’s comments and there was no sign of them on his account on the popular Sina Weibo social media platform.

A representative of Vision China Entertainment, which says on its website it represents Lin, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

China reported 34,980 infections on Friday, a slight dip from the previous day.