Australia and China both gave up on COVID-zero just as an Omicron outbreak hit. Here’s why the situation is so much worse for Beijing

After hearing how scary COVID-19 was for almost three years, 25-year-old Karen Huang felt “a little bit relieved” when she tested positive for the virus in mid-December. “Just like others, I had been wondering when it would be my turn to get COVID,” said Ms Huang from Guangzhou. Only a week before her infection, China announced it would ease COVID-19 restrictions in response to nationwide anti-lockdown protests since November. Watching news about the end of COVID-zero restrictions, Ms Huang predicted there could be an outbreak in the coming weeks. To protect herself, she decided to get the new inhalable COVID-19…