Chinese citizens are racing to buy ventilators and oxygen machines as anxiety and frustration mount over Beijing’s attempts to rein in a growing coronavirus outbreak.
Cities across the country were rocked by protests over the weekend against government efforts to control record Covid-19 cases and against censorship after the deaths of 10 people in an apartment fire in Urumqi were blamed on coronavirus restrictions.
More than a dozen online medical equipment stores told the Financial Times that sales of devices used to detect or treat symptoms of Covid-19 had shot up since November 11, when the State Council, China’s cabinet, announced shorter coronavirus quarantine requirements for close contacts and international travellers.