Relaxing Zero-Covid in China

Until recently, China operated 'zero-tolerance' programmes for dealing with Covid19 infections. These depended more on curtailing individual movement rather than the use of modern vaccines/monitoring (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/23/80-of-people-in-china-caught-covid-since-early-december-say-officials). Following unrest, the zero-Covid restrictions were largely lifted in Autumn-Winter 2022. It's now been estimated that 80% of people in China, have caught Covid since December 2022. The official death toll has surged to 72,000 but some authorities estimate there have been circa a million Covid-related mortalities. Relying on quarantine is all very well but it's not an especially effective approach in crowded city locations. Quarantine also provides little opportunity for natural immunity to the virus to arise. It's a pity that effective mass vaccination programmes were not also part of the approach.