For US$170 per month, some agents are offering a unit with a private bathroom and allow pets.

Move is latest in Beijing’s drive to boost national security after use of AirDrop by mainland zero-Covid and Hong Kong anti-government protesters.

Move to tighten surveillance and control was prompted by recent protests, according to observers.

A wide range of factors – including protests, rising infection numbers and the heavy toll on the economy – accelerated the pace of reopening.

One clinic said there had already been a 15-20 per cent increase in demand since mid-November, much of it from Chinese people returning home.

Students also want to be free to go home for the winter holidays; and for those staying to be paid the same as staff doctors.

Beijing’s envoy to France says protesters’ anger at local government failures was taken advantage of by those who want to ‘destroy’ China.

A feared wave of infections would put enormous stress on the healthcare and public service systems and, Beijing fears, could even trigger political instability.

But analysts warn that Beijing’s policy change in wake of rare street protests doesn’t necessarily signal stability or a return to the pre-pandemic status quo.

Internet friends instead of real-life relationships, online dependence, depression and anxiety are among the pandemic effects noted by researchers.

Armed with blank paper, women from Beijing to Shanghai are leading a rare social movement.

Despite the social and economic impact of the virus, Xi ‘is unwilling to take a better vaccine from the West,’ US intelligence chief says.

Support and acceptance of zero-Covid policy is increasingly waning as economic upheaval takes a mounting toll on people from all walks of life in China, from its urban dwellers to nomadic herdsmen.