Patients with Covid-19 lay in beds at Tangshan Gongren Hospital in China's northeastern city of Tangshan on December 30, 2022. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)





Police officers and border guards hold flags during a border patrol in Altay, Xinjiang province, China, December 30, 2022. (Photo by CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)





Chinese police personnel check on a man who appears unwell and resting on top of his luggages on the street of Beijing, Friday, December 30, 2022. China is on a bumpy road back to normal life as schools, shopping malls and restaurants fill up again following the abrupt end of some of the world's most severe restrictions even as hospitals are swamped with feverish, wheezing COVID-19 patients. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)





A man wearing a mask transports used quilts and other scavenged cloth material in Beijing, Friday, December 30, 2022. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)





A child wearing a mask stands near light decorations at a mall in Beijing, Friday, December 30, 2022. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)





In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a New Year address in Beijing, Saturday, December 31, 2022. China “stands on the right side of history”, the country's leader Xi Jinping said Saturday in a New Year's address that came as questions swirl over his government's handling of COVID-19 and economic and political challenges at home and abroad. (Photo by Ju Peng/Xinhua via AP Photo)





People pose for pictures with a 2023 installation at a shopping complex on New Year's Eve, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, China on December 31, 2022. (Photo by Florence Lo/Reuters)





Medical workers receive patients arriving in ambulances at a hospital in Suining in southwestern China's Sichuan province on Saturday, December 31, 2022. China is on a bumpy road back to normal life as schools, shopping malls and restaurants fill up again with the easing of COVID-19 restriction. The abrupt end to testing and other measures came as hospitals were swamped with feverish, wheezing COVID-19 patients. (Photo by Chinatopix via AP Photo)





A passenger wearing a face mask waits for his train in the waiting hall of Beijing South Railway Station on new year's eve in Beijing, China, 31 December 2022. China has loosened its travel curbs as COVID-19 cases surge across the country. The US, Italy, Japan and Korea now require a COVID-19 test from travellers from mainland China. (Photo by Wu Hao/EPA/EFE)





This aerial photo taken on December 31, 2022, shows pedestrians visiting a business area ahead of the new year in Nanning, in China's southern Guangxi region. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)





Visitors are reflected on a window pane as a man counts Chinese currency notes at a shop selling tea in Qianmen, a popular tourist spot in Beijing, Tuesday, January 3, 2023. As the virus continues to rip through China, global organizations and governments have called on the country start sharing data while others have criticized its current numbers as meaningless. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





A man wearing a face mask tends to his elderly relative resting in a corridor of the emergency ward to receive an intravenous drip at a hospital in Beijing, Tuesday, January 3, 2023. As the virus continues to rip through China, global organizations and governments have called on the country start sharing data while others have criticized its current numbers as meaningless. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





A couple buy a sugar-coated Chinese haw to a child at the Qianmen pedestrian shopping street, a popular tourist spot in Beijing, Tuesday, January 3, 2023. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





Visitors wearing face masks tour a pedestrian shopping street at Qianmen walking street in Beijing, Tuesday, January 3, 2023. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





Farmers load crates of oranges onto a truck in a field on January 3, 2023 in Dao County, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)





People walk next to a giant snow sculpture at the Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo in Harbin, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province on January 4, 2023, ahead of the 39th Harbin China International Ice and Snow Festival. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)





Women with shopping bags stand in a street as China returns to work despite continuing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks in Beijing, China, on January 3, 2023. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)





A staff member walks next to several body bags at a funeral home, as COVID-19 outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China on January 4, 2023. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





Patients lie on beds and stretchers in a hallway in the emergency department of a hospital, amid the coronavirus disease outbreak in Shanghai, China on January 4, 2023. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





A staff member pushes a cart carrying a body bag at a funeral home, as coronavirus disease outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China on January 4, 2023. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)