China expands hospital facilities and ICUs amid Covid surge

China is setting up more intensive care facilities and trying to strengthen hospitals as Beijing amid a surge in Covid-19 cases (Ng Han Guan/AP)

China is setting up more intensive care facilities and trying to strengthen hospitals amid a surge in Covid-19 cases as Beijing rolls back anti-virus controls that confined millions of people to their homes, crushed economic growth and triggered protests.

President Xi Jinping’s government is officially committed to stopping virus transmission, the last major country to try. But the latest moves suggest the ruling Communist Party will tolerate more cases without quarantine or shutting down travel or businesses as it winds down its “zero-Covid” strategy.