At the same time China’s government is working to manage the fallout overseas from the surveillance balloon shot down by the US, it’s also struggling to contain another problem at home—a wave of covid cases that’s overwhelmed the country.

Late last year, people in cities across China protested in the streets against the government’s Covid Zero lockdowns. In response to the unrest, President Xi Jinping eased the restrictions, and China is opening back up.

As anticipated, millions of people once again out and about has led to a massive surge in Covid cases and deaths. As the virus has rapidly spread throughout China, the government has struggled to keep up. Hospitals are overwhelmed and even basic medicines like ibuprofen are sometimes impossible to find.Bloomberg journalists John Liu in Beijing and Xiao Zibang in Singapore join this episode to talk about how China is coping with the health crisis, how citizens in some cities and rural areas are stepping in where the government has fallen short, and where things go from here.

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