A sudden lifting of many of China' s Covid restrictions has caused nationwide outbreaks - as well as confusion and anger on social media.

Amid a severe shortage of rapid test kits, several provinces like Zhejiang and Anhui, as well as Chongqing, are implementing a new policy that allows people with mild symptoms or no symptoms to go back to work.

On Weibo, China' s equivalent of Twitter, the hashtag related to this announcement has been read 33 million times since Monday. There is shock and fury.

" There has been no preparation in the past three years, and all of a sudden the restrictions are lifted and you are allowed to go to work while ill - our lives are worthless like ants," a comment with 200 likes reads.

" Just several months ago, people would get arrested for going to work while testing positive," reads another comment with almost 1,000 likes.

Even some overseas Chinese who returned to the country after a recent shortening of the hotel quarantine period are surprised to find out how fast the virus is spreading.

" I had never had Covid in the past few years while living abroad, but got it several days after came back&hellip Everyone I know is getting Covid and having a fever - so if you can stay out of the country recently, don' t come back," one user on another popular social media platform Xiaohongshu wrote.

In the past two weeks, the Chinese internet has been flooded with posts of how people were pulling through after contracting the virus...
 

Medical stocks back in play. Medtecs, UG, RS and TG otw up.!