Relaxed COVID rules, deadly crowd crushes mark year in Asia
Associated PressNatural disasters and crowd-related tragedies claimed hundreds of lives in Asia and overshadowed the COVID-19 pandemic, with most countries easing or completely lifting the tough restrictions of the previous two years. Even China, the last major country to try to control virus transmission through a “zero-COVID” strategy, relaxed the rigorous rules that triggered rare public protests. The suspect cited Abe’s links to the ultra-conservative Unification Church, whose ties to the ruling party caused major headaches for the new prime minister, Fumio Kishida. In Seoul, 156 young revelers were crushed to death when more than 100,000 people flocked to the city’s popular nightlife district for Halloween celebrations, the first since the country’s strict COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The government under Xi, who granted himself new powers as China’s potential leader for life, relaxed measures and indicated it will tolerate more cases without quarantines or shutting down travel or businesses as it winds down its “zero-COVID” strategy, even as cases rise and threaten to overwhelm health resources.
History of this topic
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Relaxed COVID rules, deadly crowd crushes mark year in Asia
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