China set to ease Covid rules after protests

China appears likely to relax some of its strict 'zero-Covid' rules after rare protests in several cities last weekend called for an end to strict Covid curbs, a senior Chinese official's comments and reports indicated on Thursday.

Vice-premier Sun Chunlan, the senior-most Chinese official overseeing Covid-control strategies, said the country's battle against Covid-19 "requires a new approach as the Omicron variant becomes less pathogenic, more people get vaccinated and experience is gained in controlling the virus," according to official news agency, Xinhua.

She made the comments during a meeting of national health officials on Wednesday, the Xinhua report said.

Sun's remarks come against the backdrop of the worst ongoing country-wide Covid outbreak, which has hit some of the country's largest cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Chongqing.

The country-wide daily caseload has stayed above the 30,000-mark for nearly a week now.

Sun is the highest official in charge of Covid-controls to acknowledge that the Omicron variant is less virulent, a significant change in the official position, suggesting a more flexible set of restrictions could be implemented in the coming days.