In the midst of the wave of popular protests against the draconian management of the anti-Covid measures, the new plan to manage the increase in infections arrives from the Chinese government.
The National Health Commission has in fact announced the blanket vaccination of the population over eighty years of age and has made it known that it intends to strengthen coverage also for the over 60s.
According to the authorities, the percentage of Chinese citizens over the age of 80 who are fully vaccinated is currently 65.8%.
And while local officials have been asked to take responsibility for convincing the elderly to undergo vaccines, in a management that will be supported by big data processing, Chinese security forces have filled the streets of Beijing and Shanghai to prevent there may be new demonstrations by citizens exasperated by the fierce lockdowns.
Last week’s deadly fire in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang region, was the fuse that ignited public anger.
Meanwhile, online appeals are multiplying to fill squares and universities. The scrutiny of what is published remains sky-high: A planned protest in Beijing went awry when several dozen police officers and vans cordoned off an intersection near the protesters’ assembly point in the western Haidian district. Protesters had shared online a plan to march to the bridge after a successful rally the day before near the Liangma River.
In an area in the economic center of Shanghai, where other opponents gathered over the weekend, Agence France Presse saw the police forcibly take away three people.
