Far from "zero-COVID," cases in China are setting new records

Key Facts

The approach has been difficult for locked-down residents — and shuttered businesses — in China to bear, especially as other countries seem to be co-existing with the disease.
The refusal of China's leaders to significantly adjust their approach to the pandemic has drawn a mounting public pushback — something which in itself is uncommon in the tightly-controlled society.
People in personal protective equipment (PPE) and residents wait to be swabbed for the COVID-19 at a testing site in Beijing, China, November 25, 2022.
A resident in Chongqing, a megacity in western China where residents have suffered weeks of on-and-off lockdowns in different areas, is seen in one video shouting: "Give me liberty, or give me death!" in a passionate speech quoting one of America's founding fathers outside what appears to be one of the city's residential compounds.