After protests against the strict corona measures, China's Deputy Prime Minister spoke of a "new stage of the pandemic", triggering renewed speculation about possible easing.

"As the omicron variant has become less pathogenic, more people are being vaccinated and we have gained more experience in Covid prevention, our fight against the pandemic is at a new stage and entails new tasks," said Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan at a meeting of the National Health Commission.

The rigorous measures taken by the authorities in response to the new corona wave led to protests in several million metropolises over the weekend. It was the largest public demonstration of displeasure in China in decades. In response to the rallies, a massive police presence was mobilized on the streets of Beijing, Shanghai and other cities to prevent the demonstrations from flaring up again.

Even before the protests broke out, the authorities had decided to adjust the corona measures. However, since the number of infections has risen sharply recently, many cities have imposed additional measures. The Health Commission asked the local authorities to strictly adhere to the guidelines. On Tuesday, the commission also announced that it intends to push the vaccination campaign harder - especially in the elderly population. For fear of side effects, older people in the country of 1.4 billion people have so far been vaccinated less. Only 40 percent of people over the age of 80 have received a booster shot.

The number of reported new corona infections meanwhile fell slightly for the third day in a row. As reported by the Health Commission, around 35,800 new cases were reported the previous day. On Tuesday there were around 37,600 infections. Only recently, the number of more than 40,000 new infections per day reached a high since the pandemic began almost three years ago.