Chinese Xinjiang to ease quarantine restrictions

after protests. Another cause of discontent was a fire in a residential building, where ten people died.

The city of Urumqi, which is the capital of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region , has decided to ease coronavirus restrictions after residents protested over them, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The newspaper writes that earlier rallies against quarantine restrictions were held in the city. Among the slogans of the participants was the demand for the lifting of quarantine, but they also sang the national anthem. Quarantine in Urumqi has been in effect since August, the newspaper notes.

Another reason for the SCMP protests is a major fire in Urumqi, during which ten people died and nine were injured.

The fire occurred on November 24 in a residential complex, on the 15th floor. Then the fire spread to the floors above, and the smoke spread up to the 21st. The building, according to the newspaper, was in a "high-risk" area due to the coronavirus, so leaving it could be difficult. It took about four hours to put out the fire.

Xinhua, citing a representative of the city authorities, writes that the complex has been in the "low risk" zone since November 12. Authorities also denied reports that evacuation exits from the building were blocked with iron wire. Firefighters indicated that the difficulties with extinguishing were caused by the fact that narrow passages lead to the house, which were filled with parked cars. The preliminary cause of the fire is called an ignition in a socket in one of the apartments.

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Reuters points out that rallies against COVID restrictions have also affected Beijing. The agency writes that it has a video in which residents of an unidentified part of the city also went out to protest demanding "Stop the quarantine."

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A new outbreak of coronavirus has begun in China. On November 25, almost 33 thousand infected people were detected in the country over the past day (of which almost 30 thousand carry the disease asymptomatically), the next day - more than 35 thousand (asymptomatic - almost 32 thousand).

SCMP noted that these are record numbers, previously such a high incidence was observed in the spring. The newspaper points out that the increase in the number of new cases arose against the backdrop of the easing of restrictions in the country due to COVID-19. Against this background, China is again tightening them.