Beijingers cheered the removal of COVID-19 testing booths on Saturday, and Shenzhen announced it would no longer require passengers to show test results for trips as China eases restrictions on the virus, Reuters reported.

Even as daily cases near an all-time high, some cities are taking steps to ease COVID-19 testing requirements and quarantine rules as China tries to better target its zero-tolerance policy against COVID-19 amid a sharp economic decline and frustration of the population, which led to protests.

On December 2, China reported 32,827 new local infections of COVID-19, up from 34,772 the day before. As of Friday, China had reported 5,233 deaths from COVID-19 and 331,952 cases of the disease with symptoms.

Anti-covid measures have been relaxed in Beijing and major cities

The southern city of Shenzhen has announced it will no longer require people to show a negative COVID test result to use public transport or enter parks, after Chengdu and Tianjin took similar measures.

Many testing sites in the Chinese capital, Beijing, have also been closed as the city no longer requires negative test results as a condition for entry to places such as supermarkets and prepares to do so for the subway starting Monday.

Many other locations, including office spaces, still require testing.

Footage showing workers in Beijing dismantling a test cabin went viral on Chinese social media on Friday. “It should have been done sooner!” said one commenter. “Relegated to history,” said another.

The protests appear to have led to the easing of restrictions

Three years into the pandemic, China remained a global exception with its zero-tolerance approach to COVID, which involved quarantine and frequent testing.

Beijing says the measures are necessary to save lives and prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed.

Last month, China began to change its approach, urging locals to take a more targeted approach. However, the initial response was marked by confusion and even stricter lockdown measures as cities tried to contain the rise in cases.

Then last month’s deadly fire in the country’s westernmost city of Urumqi sparked dozens of protests against COVID-related restrictions in an unprecedented wave in mainland China since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012.

China has yet to announce a nationwide easing of testing requirements and has allowed positive cases and close contacts to self-isolate at home under certain conditions, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this week.

During a meeting with European Union officials in Beijing on Thursday, Xi blamed the mass protests on young people disillusioned by years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but said the now-dominant Omicron variant of the virus had paved the way for less restrictions.

They want to vaccinate the elderly before further restrictions are lifted

Officials only recently began downplaying Omicron’s dangers, a significant shift in messaging in a country where fear of COVID has run deep.

On Friday, some districts in Beijing posted on social media instructions on how positive cases can be isolated at home, a historic move that marks a departure from official instructions to send such people into centralized quarantine.

However, the improvement has also been accompanied by concern, particularly from groups who consider themselves more vulnerable to the disease.

And many analysts say they still don’t expect a significant reopening until at least next March, citing China’s need to get results from the elderly vaccination campaign it just launched.

Estimates of the number of deaths China could see if it were to proceed to full recovery have ranged from 1.3 million to more than 2 million, although some researchers say the number of deaths could be significantly reduced with an emphasis on vaccination.

“None of this should be interpreted as a fundamental change to the zero-covid-19 policy, but rather as an attempt to make it more rational and less expensive. The task remains to return cases to zero,” Capital Economics said.

“The alternative of allowing the virus to spread widely before more elderly people are vaccinated and health care capacity is improved would result in higher death rates than many Asian countries that have reopened earlier, undermining China’s zero-spread success COVID,” they said.