Criticism of Government’s Covid Policy; China blocks critics’ social media accounts

LONDON: China has removed more than 1,000 social media accounts that criticized the government’s Covid policies. Some of these had millions of followers.

The BBC reported that social media platform Weibo said it had suspended or banned accounts for what it described as a personal attack against Chinese Covid experts.

China scrapped its strict zero-covid policy in December. Since then, cases and deaths have seen a rapid rise.

Online criticism has until recently focused on strict enforcement of Covid rules, including lockdowns that required people to stay at home in isolation for weeks.

But recent posts have also targeted experts who defended the government’s sudden decision to drop Covid restrictions just weeks ago by supporting the government’s policies, the BBC reported.

It identified around 13,000 violations, including attacks on experts, academics and medical workers. Weibo said 1,120 accounts were temporarily or permanently banned.

The country’s zero-covid policy was relaxed after historic protests against the anti-covid policy imposed in China. After that, there was a sudden surge in the number of Covid cases and the number of deaths was reported to increase.

However, China has stopped publishing data on its daily cases and has announced just 22 deaths from Covid since December using its own strict criteria.

Starting Sunday, China will drop its mandatory quarantine requirement for travelers arriving from abroad. This means that many Chinese will be able to travel abroad for the first time in about three years, BBC reported.